UK increasingly exposed to health-threatening extreme heat

People in the UK are increasingly exposed to dangerous extreme heat, as global health threats of climate change reach record-breaking levels, experts warn.

A report by the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change found there is a heightened risk of heat-related illness and mortality in the UK, with an extra nine deaths per 100,000 people on average in 2013-2022.

Around the world in 2023, people were exposed to an average 50 more days of health-threatening temperatures than would be expected without climate change. Extreme drought affected 48% of global land area, the report also found.

Dr Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London, said the findings were the most concerning in the eight years of the report.

She said: “No individual or economy on the planet is immune from the health threats of climate change.

“The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions compounds these dangerous health impacts, and is threatening to reverse the limited progress made so far, and put a healthy future further out of reach.”

The report found that 10 of the 15 indicators tracking health threats of climate change have reached new record levels.

Its authors accuse governments and companies of continuing to fuel the fire by investing in fossil fuels, and say the money spent funding oil, gas and coal should be redirected to the shift into clean economies.

The higher frequency of heatwaves and droughts around the world was linked to 151 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity than they were each year between 1981 and 2010.

At the same time, 61% of the world’s land area saw an increase in extreme rainstorms in the past decade, increasing the risk of flooding, infectious disease and water contamination, while the risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue has increased.

The report also argues that unhealthy and unsustainable diets are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and hitting health, and a shift to more balanced diets would reduce deaths and tackle climate change.