Every year, heat waves caused by climate change directly or indirectly claim the lives of nearly 550,000 people.
This is according to The Guardian, citing the Lancet's Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
"We are seeing millions of deaths every year because of our delay in mitigating climate change and our slow adaptation to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. We see key leaders, governments, and corporations backing away from their climate commitments and putting people at increasing risk," says Dr. Marina Romanello of University College London (UCL).
Fossil fuel use takes lives
The authors of the report state explicitly that the root cause of heat-related deaths is the burning of coal, oil, and gas. This causes rising temperatures and air pollution, resulting in large-scale forest fires and a worsening of the epidemic situation with regard to “heat-loving” diseases.
However, despite the scale and obviousness of the damage, governments continue to subsidize the extractive industry. In 2023 alone, the funding amounted to $956 billion. And that year was the hottest in recorded history. Until 2024 came along, which was even hotter.
At last year's COP29 summit, participants “agreed” not to raise this bar above $300 billion per year. However, researchers express doubts that the actual volumes will fall even slightly below this figure.
Stealing from ourselves
By investing in fossil fuel producers, countries are simultaneously “stealing” money from themselves. Due to high temperatures in 2024, labor losses amounted to 639 billion hours, which significantly affected the GDP of countries, especially the least developed ones. They lost up to 6% of their national income.
EcoPolitics explained how politics and economic benefits trump noble environmental intentions, using the example of COP.
