The 2024 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: unprecedented warming demands unprecedented action

Record-breaking temperatures were recorded across the globe in 2023. Without climate action, adverse climate-related health impacts are expected to worsen worldwide, affecting billions of people. Temperatures in Europe are warming at twice the rate of the global average, threatening the health of populations across the continent and leading to unnecessary loss of life. The Lancet Countdown in Europe was established in 2021, to assess the health profile of climate change aiming to stimulate European social and political will to implement rapid health-responsive climate mitigation and adaptation actions. In 2022, the collaboration published its indicator report, tracking progress on health and climate change via 33 indicators and across five domains.

This new report tracks 42 indicators highlighting the negative impacts of climate change on human health, the delayed climate action of European countries, and the missed opportunities to protect or improve health with health-responsive climate action. The methods behind indicators presented in the 2022 report have been improved, and nine new indicators have been added, covering leishmaniasis, ticks, food security, health-care emissions, production and consumption-based emissions, clean energy investment, and scientific, political, and media engagement with climate and health. Considering that negative climate-related health impacts and the responsibility for climate change are not equal at the regional and global levels, this report also endeavours to reflect on aspects of inequality and justice by highlighting at-risk groups within Europe and Europe’s responsibility for the climate crisis.

Kim R van Daalen, Cathryn Tonne, Jan C Semenza, Joacim Rocklöv, Anil Markandya, Niheer Dasandi, Slava Jankin, Hicham Achebak, Joan Ballester, Hannah Bechara, Thessa M Beck, Max W Callaghan, Bruno M Carvalho, Jonathan Chambers, Marta Cirah Pradas, Orin Courtenay, Shouro Dasgupta, Matthew J Eckelman, Zia Farooq, Peter Fransson, Elisa Gallo, Olga Gasparyan, Nube Gonzalez-Reviriego, Ian Hamilton, Risto Hänninen, Charles Hatfield, Kehan He, Aleksandra Kazmierczak, Vladimir Kendrovski, Harry Kennard, Gregor Kiesewetter, Rostislav Kouznetsov, Hedi Katre Kriit, Alba Llabrés-Brustenga, Simon J Lloyd, Martín Lotto Batista, Carla Maia, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza, Zhifu Mi, Carles Milà, Jan C Minx, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Julia Palamarchuk, Dafni Kalatzi Pantera, Marcos Quijal-Zamorano, Peter Rafaj, Elizabeth J Z Robinson, Nacho Sánchez-Valdivia, Daniel Scamman, Oliver Schmoll, Maquins Odhiambo Sewe, Jodi D Sherman, Pratik Singh, Elena Sirotkina, Henrik Sjödin, Mikhail Sofiev, Balakrishnan Solaraju-Murali, Marco Springmann, Marina Treskova, Joaquin Triñanes, Eline Vanuytrecht, Fabian Wagner, Maria Walawender, Laura Warnecke, Ran Zhang, Marina Romanello, Josep M Antò, Maria Nilsson, Rachel Lowe,
The 2024 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: unprecedented warming demands unprecedented action, The Lancet Public Health, 2024, ISSN 2468-2667,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00055-0.