Heat Linked to 710,000 Deaths in 2023, Major Study Warns
The 2026 Lancet Countdown report, led by University College London with the World Health Organization (WHO), concludes that climate-related health risks are accelerating, even with the progress made since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world’s response to them, and in many cases even accelerating,” said Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown.
The numbers
The analysis, drawn from 146 researchers at more than 100 institutions, estimates that heat contributed to more than 540,000 deaths a year from 2016 to 2023. Climate change accounted for 68% of them.
In 2023 alone, heat was tied to roughly 710,000 deaths, with climate change responsible for more than 71%.
Extreme heat also wiped out more than $1 trillion in potential income worldwide in 2025, the third straight year above that mark, according to the researchers’ estimates.
More than half of the planet’s land surface endured extreme drought for at least one month in 2025, the report found.
Clean energy is surging, but fossil fuels still dominate. Global investment in clean energy hit $2.1 trillion in 2025, yet fossil fuels still supplied more than 80% of the world’s energy.
The researchers called on governments and international institutions to put climate-related health risks first, speed up emissions cuts and deepen global cooperation.
“This isn’t a gradual worsening; it’s a step change that must be recognized as the global health emergency it is,” Romanello said.
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