Previous Reports

2022 Report

The health of people around the world is at the mercy of a persistent fossil fuel addiction. The 2022 report launches as countries and health systems grapple with the health, social and economic implications of climate change, which now compound the impacts of the global energy crisis, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 Report

People in every region of the world are increasingly seeing their health affected by climate change. Key trends seen in previous Lancet Countdown Reports are getting worse and exacerbating already existing health and social inequities. The 2021 report gives a code red for health.

2020 Report

No continent, country or community is immune from the health impacts of climate change. Aligning the global COVID-19 recovery with our response to climate change offers the chance to protect health, promote a sustainable economy, and preserve our planet.

2019 Report

An unprecedented challenge demands an unprecedented response, and it will take the work of the 7·5 billion people currently alive to ensure that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate.

2018 Report

The nature and scale of the response to climate change will be the determining factor in shaping the health of nations for centuries to come. Maintaining the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C necessitates wide-reaching transformations across all sectors of society.

2017 Report

The human symptoms of climate change are unequivocal and potentially irreversible- affecting the health of populations around the world today. The voice of the health profession is essential in driving forward progress on climate change and realising the health benefits of this response.

2016 Report

Climate change presents a potentially catastrophic risk to human health. Countries will have to undergo a shift from understanding climate change solely as a threat, to embracing the response to climate change as an opportunity for human health and wellbeing.

2015 Report

Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century. The effects of climate change are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and catastrophic risk to human health.