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Welcome to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change data explorer. This new platform allows users to engage with our findings and explore the 2021 report data at country specific, regional and income group level. The data visualisations are free to use and share, and we encourage you to include them in your work.
Health Hazards, Exposures, and Impacts
Adaptation, Planning, and Resilience for Health
Mitigation Actions and Health Co-Benefits
Economics and Finance
Public and Political Engagement
A changing climate has profound implications for human health, with more frequent heatwaves and extreme weather events, changing patterns of infectious disease, and the exacerbation of existing health challenges around the world. Indicators in this section track how these impact on human health.
A changing climate has profound implications for human health, with more frequent heatwaves and extreme weather events, changing patterns of infectious disease, and the exacerbation of existing health challenges around the world. Indicators in this section track how these impact on human health.
Inhabited land areas experience warming at a faster rate than oceans. This indicator shows the temperatures that humans were exposed to during summer seasons.
From 2000 to 2021, populations were exposed to an average increase in summer temperature two times higher than the global mean.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
3. Historical, Gridded Population dataset, 2021. The Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project.
This indicator reports changes in summer temperatures but does not capture the existence or absence of effective adaptation measures, such as heat early warning systems, cooling devices, and green areas in cities.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks changes in summer temperatures relative to the 1985-2005 average. By overlapping gridded temperature and population data, this indicator shows that inhabited land areas experience faster warming than oceans.
Exposure to extremes of heat results in a range of health consequences, including heat stress and heat stroke, worsening heart disease, and acute kidney injury. Populations over 65, and newborns are particularly vulnerable to these effects, and are being exposed to heatwaves in increasing numbers. This indicator tracks the change in the number of heatwaves experienced by vulnerable populations around the world.
Children under 1 year old experienced 600 million more person-days of heatwaves, and adults over 65 years 3.1 billion more person-days, in 2012–2021, compared to 1986–2005.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Hybrid gridded demographic data for the world, 1950-2020 0.25˚ resolution, 2022. Chambers, J.
3. 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects. United Nations.
As two distinct sources were used for population data there may be some inconsistencies between the pre and post 2000 values.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the change in the number of heatwave exposure events (with one exposure event being one heatwave experienced by one person aged over 65 or infant from birth to 1 year old) and days of heatwave exposure in these populations compared with the average number of events in the reference period (1986–2005). A heatwave was defined as a period of at least two days where both the daily minimum and maximum temperatures are above the 95th percentile of their respective climatologies.
Physical activity is key to good health and wellbeing. Warmer temperatures can reduce the frequency and duration of physical activity, the desire to engage in exercise, and even low levels of physical activity can pose a risk to health under very high temperatures. In a world that is increasingly warming due to climate change, this indicator measures hours of physical activity potentially lost due to heat.
Over the last 10 years, people experienced on average an extra 281 hours annually during which the high heat posed at least a moderate heat stress risk during light outdoor physical activity, compared to 1991-2000.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The estimation of heat stress risk for a given exercise category may not be uniform across the entire population, and risk estimates in particular may be different for young children and pregnant women. A more detailed interpretation model of heat effects on exercise would incorporate individual factors such as age, health status, physiology, and clothing.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the daily hours per person during which physical activity would entail heat stress risk. It uses “moderate” heat stress risk, as defined by the 2021 Sports Medicine Australia Extreme Heat Policy, which stratifies estimated heat stress risk based on ambient temperature and relative humidity.
Our capacity to work is affected by temperature and humidity, particularly in highly active jobs in agriculture, industry, and manufacturing. Reduced work productivity can also result in flow on health and economic impacts for individuals and communities. As the world continues to warm, this indicator tracks the change in potential work hours lost due to high temperatures.
In 2021, heat exposure led to the loss of 470 billion potential labour hours, a 37% increase from 1990–1999. 87% of the losses in low Human Development Index countries occurred in the agricultural sector.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
3. International Labour Organization International Statistics Database (ILOSTAT). ILO. Accessed in 2022
The distribution of agricultural, construction manufacturing and service sector workers used are country averages, applied evenly to the population of each grid cell, thus not accounting for sub-national variation in industry.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator calculates hours of work lost by linking Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (including temperature, humidity and solar radiation) with the amount of energy typically expended by workers in four sectors: agriculture, construction, service, and industry. It then combines this calculation with the proportion of people working (over 15 years old) in each of these four sectors within each country to estimate the potential work hours lost per year.
Exposure to extremes of heat results in a range of health consequences, including heat stress and heat stroke, worsening heart disease, and acute kidney injury and leads to an increase in all-cause mortality. People aged over 65 are particularly vulnerable to these effects. As the world continues to warm, this indicator tracks heat-related mortality in over 65 populations around the world.
Heat-related mortality for people over 65 increased by approximately 68% between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
3. Historical, Gridded Population dataset, 2021. The Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project.
4. 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects, 2022. United Nations.
5. 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study, 2020. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
This analysis assumes the exposure-response function is constant. It does not capture changes in response to heat exposure that might happen over time, as a result of acclimation and adaptation. Not capturing these changes could result in an over-estimation of heat-related deaths in later calendar years. Annual average mortality rates are used, rather than daily mortality rates. Given baseline mortality can be higher in colder months, this may lead to an overestimation of overall mortalities.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks global heat-related mortality in populations older than 65 years. It applies the exposure-response function and optimum temperature described by Honda and colleagues (2014) to the daily maximum temperature exposure of the population older than 65 years to estimate the attributable fraction and thus the deaths attributable to heat exposure.
Wildfires cause a range of health impacts, from direct thermal injuries through to exacerbation of acute and chronic lung disease from smoke and pollution. They often cause substantial social and economic impacts, affecting vital infrastructure and emergency services. Climate change is creating hotter, drier conditions in many parts of the world, increasing the risk of wildfires. This indicator monitors change in wildfire danger and the number of people exposed to wildfires and wildfire smoke, globally.
Human exposure to days of very-high or extremely-high fire danger increased in 61% of countries from 2001–2004 to 2018–2021.
1. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Collection 61, 2022. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fire Information for Resource Management System.
2. Global 1-km Cloud Cover, 2022. EarthEnv.
3. Fire Danger Indices Historical Data. Copernicus Emergency Management Service, Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
4. ECOCLIMAP-II/Europe, 2013. Faroux, S et al.
5. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
6. Hybrid gridded demographic data for the world, 1950-2020 0.25˚ resolution, 2022. Chambers, J.
7. Daily Surface Concentration of Fire Related PM2.5 for 2003-2021, 2022. Hänninen R et al., Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The fire danger index is calculated based on meteorological parameters. The actual fire events can be also influenced by anthropogenic factors, such as human-induced land use and land cover changes, industrial-scale fire suppression, and human induced ignition. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer observations are limited by cloud obscuration and sensitivity of the instrument.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator was last updated in September 2021
This indicator uses model-based wildfire danger, satellite-observed exposure, and modelled exposure to wildfire fine particles, accounting for cloud cover in the detection of wildfire spots. It incorporates atmospheric modelling to track exposure to wildfire smoke (PM2.5). Climatological wildfire danger is estimated by combining daily very high or extremely high wildfire danger (a fire danger index score of 5 or 6) with climate and population data. Human exposure to wildfires, in person-days (with one person-day being one person exposed to a wildfire in one day) is tracked using satellite and population data.
Climate change alters hydrological cycles, tending to make dry areas drier and wet areas wetter. Drought poses multiple risks for health, threatening drinking water supplies and sanitation, and crop and livestock productivity, enhancing the risk of wildfires, and potentially leading to forced migration. As climate change alters rainfall patterns and increases temperatures, this indicator tracks the change in months of drought around the world.
On average, 29% more of the global land area was affected by extreme drought annually in 2012–21, than in 1951–1960.
1. Global Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index Database, 2021. Beguería, S et al.
This indicator only captures the impacts of climate change on meteorological drought, but does not capture the impacts of climate change on hydrological or agricultural drought. It also does not measure the direct relation between a drought and the population living in drought-affected areas.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator measures changes in the number of months of extreme meteorological drought, using the 6-monthly Standard Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, compared with a 1986-2005 baseline.
Climate change-related increases in heat and precipitation extremes pose diverse risks to mental health globally, ranging from altered affective states to elevated mental health-related hospitalisations and suicidality. As the world continues to warm, this indicator tracks people’s sentiment, expressed on social media.
Heatwaves during 2021 were associated with a statistically significant decrease of 0.20 percentage points in the number of tweets expressing positive sentiment, while extreme precipitation days were associated with a statistically significant decrease of 0.26 percentage points.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Geolocated Tweets collected via the Twitter Streaming Application Programming Interface. Accessed in 2022.
While sentiment is related to mental wellbeing, it should not be confused as a measure of it and should be interpreted as an indicative proxy of the mental implications of extremes of heat. Countries that did not have Twitter broadly available to the public, such as China, were underrepresented. Furthermore, geo-tagged tweets constituted approximately 2% of all tweets and thus may be somewhat limited in their generalizability due to opt-in geo-localization. The vast majority of the Twitter observations were posted in wealthy countries.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator monitors expressed sentiment on Twitter, using billions of geolocated tweets collected between 2015 and 2021. It deploys a multivariate ordinary least squares fixed effects model to estimate the annual effect of heatwaves (as defined in indicator 1.1.2) and extreme precipitation (exceeding the 99th percentile of local daily precipitation), on online sentiment expression. It compares sentiment expression between heatwave days and non-heatwave days and between extremely wet days and non-extremely wet days.
The suitability for transmission of many infectious diseases is influenced by shifts in temperature and precipitation. Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that can cause febrile illnesses and, in severe cases, organ failure and death, with children under five particularly at risk. Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause serious illness and death. Vibrio bacteria are found in brackish marine waters and cause a range of human infections, including gastroenteritis, wound infections, sepsis and cholera. With temperatures changing across the globe, this indicator tracks how this is affecting the climate suitability for these infections.
The climatic suitability for the transmission of dengue increased by 11.5% for A. aegypti and 12.0% for A. albopictus from 1951–1960 to 2012–2021; the length of the transmission season for malaria increased by 31.3% and 13.8% in the highlands of the Americas and Africa, respectively, from 1951–1960 to 2012–2021.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation-Land monthly averaged data from 1981 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Anthropogenic land-use estimates for the Holocene; History Database of the Global Environment v 3.2, 2017. Klein Goldewijk, K et al.
3. Elevation Data, 2020. University of Washington Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean.
4. Copernicus Global Land Service: Land Cover 100m: collection 3: epoch 2019: Globe, 2020. Buchhorn, M et al., Copernicus Global Land Service.
5. Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature Analysis version 2, 2021. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory.
6. Mercator Ocean Reanalysis, 2021. Copernicus Marine Service.
7. A Database of Global Coastal Conditions, 2021. Castaneda-Guzman, M et al.
8. Gridded Population of the World Version 4. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Accessed in 2022.
These results are not based on case data. They do not include other potentially important drivers (e.g. globalisation). Control efforts, such as water, sanitation and hygiene programs, and vector control efforts, may help to mitigate these effects. National data presented for vectorial capacity for the transmission of dengue only takes into account the most common Aedes species in each country. Data is not presented for countries for which information on vector presence was not available.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the environmental suitability for the transmission of arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya, and Zika), malaria, and Vibrio bacteria. For arboviruses, it uses an improved model to capture the influence of temperature and rainfall on vectorial capacity and vector abundance, and overlays it with human population density data to estimate the R0 (the expected number of secondary infections resulting from one infected person). The influence of the changing climate on the length of the transmission season for Plasmodium falciparum malaria is tracked with a threshold-based model that incorporates precipitation accumulation, average temperature, and relative humidity. The environmental suitability for infections from Vibrio species incorporates sea surface temperature and salinity, as well as chlorophyll-a for Vibrio cholerae.
The global number of undernourished people worldwide has been steadily increasing worldwide since 2014. This indicator uses changes in climate to track declines in crop yield potential due to warmer temperatures for the world’s major crops: maize, wheat, rice, and soybean.
Relative to 1981–2010, higher temperatures in 2021 shortened crop growth seasons globally by 9.3 days for maize, 1.7 days for rice and 6 days for winter and spring wheat, and heatwave days in 2020 were associated with 98 million more people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation (ERA5) monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS). Accessed in 2022.
2. Ocean Reanalysis System 5 Global Ocean Reanalysis Monthly Data from 1958 to Present, 2022. C3S CDS.
3. Coral Reef Watch Version 3.1 Daily Global 5-km Satellite Coral Bleaching Degree Heating Week Product, 2021. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Accessed in 2022.
4. Food Balances data, 2021. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT).
5. ERA5-Land Data from 1981 to Present, 2019. Muñoz Sabater J, C3S CDS. Accessed in 2022.
The crop yield potential, as calculated here, does not take into account water shortage, and therefore characterises long-term change in yield potential rather than year to year variability. The temperature-driven change in crop duration is one of many factors affecting crop yield and does not reflect actual crop production. For the temperature anomaly food insecurity indicator, it is possible that there is recall bias in the survey data and additional bias may have been introduced to interviews during the pandemic because interviews were conducted by phone instead of in-person visits.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the change in crop growth duration (the time taken to reach a target sum of accumulated temperatures and a proxy for crop yield potential) for maize wheat, rice and soybean, using a 1981-2010 reference period. If this sum is reached early, then the crop matures too quickly, and yields are lower than average. The impact of heatwave days on the crop growth season of maize, rice, sorghum and wheat on self-reported experience of food insecurity are also examined.
Indicators in this section track how communities, health systems, and governments are understanding the health risks of climate change, the strategies and resources they are deploying, and how adaptation and resilience measures are being implemented globally.
Adaptation Planning and Assessment
The health impacts of climate change vary by location and population need, with vulnerability and adaptation assessments forming an essential first step in building local resilience. This indicator tracks the development of national health and climate change strategies and plans, and barriers to implementation as well as the number of countries that report having conducted a climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment.
In 2021, 48 out of 95 countries reported having completed a climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment, but these only strongly influenced resource allocation in nine countries. Approximately half of countries (49 out of 95) reported having a national health and climate change plan in place in 2021.
1. 2021 World Health Organization Health (WHO) and Climate Change Global Survey Report, 2021. WHO.
The survey sample is not a representative sample of all countries as this survey was voluntary. However, the inclusion of 95 countries despite a global pandemic demonstrates substantial global coverage.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator draws on the 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) Health and Climate Country Survey, which was completed by 90 member states and non-member territories with representation from all 6 WHO regions. It tracks the development of national health and climate change strategies and plans and barriers to implementation.
Cities and local communities are at the forefront of the health impacts of climate change and must be central to any adaptation response. This indicator tracks the proportion of global cities who have conducted climate change risk assessments and the climate-related health impacts/vulnerabilities that cities identified.
78% of cities reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s global survey had completed or were in the process of conducting city-level climate change risk assessments.
1. 2021 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Annual Cities Survey, 2021. CDP.
This is a self-reported, non-compulsory survey so data provided may be subjective and response rates can fluctuate, with low uptake in certain areas, particularly the Eastern Mediterranean Region and among cities in low human development index countries.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator draws on data from the Carbon Disclosure Project annual Cities Questionnaire, assessing the number of global cities that have undertaken a city-wide climate change risk or vulnerability assessment and the reported climate-related health impacts and vulnerabilities of these cities.
In 2020, national meteorological and hydrological services of 86 countries reported providing climate information to the health sector; only five of the 86 indicated that these climate services guide health sector policy and investment plans.
1. Country Profile database, 2021. WMO
This indicator only considers climate services provided by national member states, and not by academic, private, regional, or other providers. The data is self-reported by countries and may therefore include reporting bias.
The WMO survey is an open questionnaire that can be updated at any time by WMO members. Therefore figures reported here may change over the year.
This indicator was last updated in September 2021
This indicator takes data from the World Meteorological Organization Country Profile Database integrated questionnaire, which asks for information regarding which communities and sectors the National Member States provide products and information to and the extent to which these products are used to improve decisions.
Climate information from meteorological services is essential in monitoring disease outbreaks, extreme weather events, and other environmental hazards. They can also provide early warning systems, triggering responses in communication to the public and preparedness of health services and human resources. This indicator tracks the number of national meteorological and hydrological services that are providing services to the health sector.
In 2021, less than 40% of countries had climate-informed health surveillance systems in place for vector-borne, waterborne and/or airborne diseases.
1. 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) Health and Climate Change Global Survey Report, 2021. WHO.
This indicator only considers climate services provided by national member states, and not by academic, private, regional, or other providers. The data is self-reported by countries and may therefore include reporting bias. The survey sample is not a representative sample of all countries as this survey was voluntary, however, the inclusion of 95 countries in this survey demonstrates substantial global coverage.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator uses data from the 2021 World Health Organization Health and Climate Change Global Survey to monitor the use of climate information for health surveillance and early warning systems.
Heatwaves are among the most immediate and severe of the health impacts of climate change. A variety of adaptation strategies exist, from effective ventilation and building regulations to air conditioning for selected populations. Access to household air conditioning is highly protective against heatwave-related mortality. However, its use also contributes to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and increased urban heat island effect. This indicator tracks the coverage of household air conditioning use, premature deaths from ambient PM 2.5 exposure due to electricity use and CO2 emissions due to air conditioning.
1. International Energy Agency data on household air conditioning use.
1. Cooling dataset, 2021. International Energy Agency.
The data available for electricity final consumption for air conditioning were at the country or region level. Thus, in a given country/region, it was assumed that the electricity market is completely connected, so that the share of electricity used for air conditioning can be equally applied to power plant emissions throughout the country/region. This assumption may not be accurate, especially for larger countries/regions. This indicator does not consider the generation of electricity by renewable energy and/or more efficient air conditioning technology, which would reduce both CO2 emissions and the number of premature deaths due to PM 2.5 emissions from air conditioning.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
Using data from the International Energy Agency, this indicator calculates the global proportion of households using air conditioning. It also uses this International Energy Agency data to estimate PM 2.5-attributable premature mortality due to air conditioning use.
Access to urban green space provides benefits to human health by reducing exposure to air and noise pollution, relieving stress, providing a setting for social interaction and physical activity, and reducing all-cause mortality. In addition, green space sequesters carbon and provides local cooling that disrupts urban heat islands, benefiting both climate change mitigation and heat adaptation. This indicator tracks the availability of greenspace in urban areas around the world.
In 2021, just 27% of urban centres were classified as moderately-green or above.
1. Urban Centre Database R2019A, 2019. Global Human Settlement Programme, European Commission.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2017. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
3. Landsat database, 2021. US Geological Survey.
4. Present and Future Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification Maps at 1-km Resolution, 2018. Beck, HE et al. “
This indicator does not provide information on quality or type of green space, nor on its accessibility. In tracking urban areas as defined by the Global Human Settlement Program, this indicator does not focus on administrative city boundaries, but rather on effective urban developments. Missing values from the GHS or Landsat data due to cloud cover or other factors limit the generalisability of the findings.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator reports population-weighted Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a proxy for green space exposure in 1,038 urban centres that have more than 500,000 inhabitants or are the most populous centres in countries unrepresented by the 500,000 threshold, as identified by the Global Human Settlement programme of the European Commission. Green space is detected through remote sensing of green vegetation, making use of the satellite-based NDVI.
Health is consistently identified as a key priority area for climate change adaptation, requiring increasing financial resources to deliver adaptaion measures. This indicator tracks total multilateral adaptation spending in the health sector and global financial transactions with the potential to deliver adaptation in the health and care sector and other sectors with potential secondary benefits for health.
Health is consistently identified as a key priority area for climate change adaptation, requiring increasing financial resources to deliver adaptaion measures. This indicator tracks total multilateral adaptation spending in the health sector and global financial transactions with the potential to deliver adaptation in the health and care sector and other sectors with potential secondary benefits for health.
1. kMatrix Ltd. Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change dataset, 2021. kMatrix Ltd, in partnership with University College London.
2. Portfolio Dashboard, 2022. Green Climate Fund.
3. Data Dashboard. Climate Funds Update. Accessed in 2022.
Due to limitations in data available, data on adaptation funding corresponds to the year that funds were approved, rather than the disbursement of funds. Consequently, it is anticipated that there may be several years of delay between approval and disbursement. The kMatrix dataset only includes economic transactions for which there is transactional/financial data available.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator monitors two elements of spending that could provide adaptation for health. The first element is the global funding approved for health-related adaptation projects through multilateral funds. The second element is global financial transactions with the potential to deliver adaptation in the health and care sector and other sectors that are relevant to the determinants of health (e.g. waste and water management, built environment, and agricultural sectors).
Health sector preparedness and response to acute public health emergencies related to climate change is an essential component of any adaptation response. This indicator tracks countries’ emergency preparedness through their implementation of a national health emergency framework.
Only 63% of 177 countries reported high to very high implementation status for health emergency management in 2021.
1. International Health Regulations Annual Reporting. Global Health Observatory Repository, World Health Organization. Accessed in 2022.
2. International Health Regulations State Party Self-Assessment Annual Report (SPAR) database, 2022. World Health Organization.
IHR monitoring questionnaire responses are self-reported, and the responding countries differ from year to year. The core capacities tracked by this indicator are not specific to climate-driven risk changes, and they capture potential capacity – not action. Finally, it does not measure the quality of surveillance, nor the effectiveness of emergency response plans.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator monitors implementation of core capacity 7, health emergency management, as tracked by the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization. Emergency management under core capacity 7 is now comprised of three capacity requirements: planning for health emergencies, management of health emergency response, and emergency logistic and supply chain management.
Vulnerability to dengue infections is affected by physiological, social, financial, and geographical factors, as well as a community’s capacity to adapt. Improvements in public health have seen a global reduction in vulnerability. As both the climate suitability for dengue, and populations’ adaptive capacity are changing, this indicator tracks both of these to gain an overall picture of population vulnerability to dengue fever.
Improvements in healthcare contributed to a 43% decrease in vulnerability to severe dengue outcomes in low HDI countries from 1990 to 2019, while urbanisation drove a 5% increase in very high HDI countries.
1. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Reference Life Table, 2022. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
2. Urban Population, 2018. World Development Indicators, World Bank Group.
The abundance models generate predictions and not observed frequencies in relation to climate conditions and so should be considered a potential abundance estimate. Countries with predicted R0<1 where not considered for this indicator. This indicator is extrapolated to country level; no estimations at subnational level to differentiate vulnerability between rural and urban settings were performed.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator displays vulnerabilities overlayed with the basic reproduction number (R0) for the transmission of dengue by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus for each country, as described in Indicator 1.3.1. Values were aggregated by World Health Organization region and Human Development Index levels.
The number of reported climate and weather-related disasters has increased five-fold over the last 50 years, including drought, storms, wildfires, floods and extreme temperatures. This indicator tracks the number of people affected in each disaster, and the lethality of these events.
The average lethality per climate-related disaster has decreased from 837 deaths in 1980–1989 to 46 in 2012–2021, and is negatively associated with healthcare spending.
1. EM-DAT: The International Disaster Database. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Accessed in 2022.
There is a possible bias in missing some disaster events because of under-reporting. Similarly, there are likely biases in how countries report both the number of deaths and people affected. Estimates of the numbers of people affected have different biases for different countries because of how the concept of “affected people” is defined.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator captures the number of occurrences of weather-related disasters (drought, storms, wildfires, floods and extreme temperatures), the number of people affected in each disaster, and the lethality of these events, which were grouped according to the human development index for each country over the period from 1990 to 2021.
Changes in water and soil quality and supply, livelihood security, flooding, and saltwater intrusion are just some of the health impacts of sea-level rise. The health consequences of these effects will depend on various factors, including the options of both in situ and migration adaptation. In a world where sea levels are rising and populations are growing in areas at risk, this indicator tracks current population exposure to future rising sea levels.
In 2020, 149.6 million people were settled less than 1 metre above current sea level, in regions increasingly at risk from the hazards of the rising seas.
1. Evolving Understanding of Antarctic Ice-Sheet Physics and Ambiguity in Probabilistic Sea-Level Projections, 2017. Kopp, RE et al.
2. CoastalDEM: A Global Coastal Digital Elevation Model Improved from SRTM using a Neural Network, 2018. Kulp, SA and Strauss, BH.
3. Hybrid gridded demographic data for the world, 1950-2020 0.25˚ resolution, 2022. Chambers, J.
4. Global Administrative Areas (GADM) version 4.0.4, 2022. GADM.
Estimates of population exposure to global mean sea level rise vary according to the input datasets, timeframes and geographic scales, the parameters that are set for emissions and socioeconomic scenarios, and methods of analysis. Many factors, including adaptive strategies, influence population displacement due to sea level rise and some populations may not move due to lack of necessary resource to escape sites of risk or may remain in location due to social, cultural or political reasons. Additionally, other climate impacts and demographic factors contribute to migration into low-lying coastal sites.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator uses a bathtub model, overlaying global mean sea level rise of 1m with coastal elevation, then uses gridded population data to estimate the current population at risk of exposure to 1m global mean sea level rise.
Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century. Many of the interventions required to mitigate and adapt bring enormous benefits for human health and wellbeing in the form of cleaner air, healthier diets, and more liveable cities. Indicators in this section track the world’s efforts to mitigate climate change, and the health benefits of this response.
Energy systems are the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions and are major contributors to air pollution. Coal combustion continues to be the largest contributor to emissions from the energy sector and is a major contributor to premature mortality due to air pollution. The phase-out of coal-fired power is therefore an important first step in the mitigation of climate change. Continued growth in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar sources, is key to replacing fossil fuels. This indicator monitors the transition of the global energy system.
Headline finding
CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion alone rebounded in 2021 by 4.8% after a 5.8% drop in 2020 due to COVID-19-related impacts.
Data sources
1. CO2 Emissions From Fuel Combustion: CO2 Indicators, 2021. International Energy Agency.
2. Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2020 and 2021. International Energy Agency.
3. 2021 Global Energy Review, 2021. International Energy Agency.
4. World Extended Energy Balances. International Energy Agency. Accessed in 2022.
Caveats
The carbon intensity component does not provide information on the share of different fossil fuels, their use in different sectors, and the absolute levels of usage. The coal phase-out and electricity data are unavailable for select countries; also data reported to International Energy Agency can be impacted by changes in reporting country methodologies.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
Indicator description
This indicator tracks the carbon intensity of the energy system, both at global and regional scales, expressed as the CO2 emitted per terajoule of the total primary energy supply. This indicator also reports on progress towards a global phase-out of coal, tracking the total primary energy supply from coal and coal’s share of total electricity generation. Finally, this indicator tracks electricity generation and the share of total electricity generation from all low-carbon sources (nuclear and all renewables, including hydro) and renewables (wind and solar, excluding hydro and biomass).
The power generation sector is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Burning fossil fuels contributes to the majority of these emissions, and to toxic air pollution. This indicator monitors the carbon intensity of the energy system and greenhouse gas emissions from power generation
The carbon intensity of the global energy system decreased by less than 1% since 1992, the year the UNFCCC was adopted, and energy-related emissions CO2 emissions reached a record high in 2021
The indicator does not provide information on the share of different fossil fuels, their use in different sectors, and the absolute levels of usage.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the carbon intensity of the energy system, both at global and regional scales, expressed as the CO2 emitted per terajoule of the total primary energy supply
Coal combustion continues to be the largest contributor to emissions from the energy sector and is a major contributor to premature mortality due to air pollution. The phase-out of coal-fired power is therefore an important first step in the mitigation of climate change. This indicator tracks progress towards coal phase-out.
Coal provides 26.7% of global energy supply, 2.8 percentage points more than in 1992, the year the UNFCCC was adopted
1. World Extended Energy Balances. International Energy Agency. Accessed in September 2022.
This indicator is unavailable for select countries. Data reported to IEA can be impacted by changes in reporting country methodologies.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator reports on progress towards a global phase-out of coal, tracking the total primary energy supply from coal and coal’s share of total electricity generation.
Continued growth in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar sources, is key to replacing fossil fuels. This indicator tracks electricity generation and the share of total electricity generation from all low-carbon sources.
Growth in renewable electricity reached record levels in 2020, accounting for 90% of new electricity installation in 2020. In 2020, renewables provided 8.2% of global electricity.
1. World Extended Energy Balances. International Energy Agency. Accessed in September 2022.
This indicator is unavailable for select countries. Data reported to IEA can be impacted by changes in reporting country methodologies.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks electricity generation and the share of total electricity generation from all low-carbon sources (nuclear and all renewables, including hydro) and renewables (wind and solar, excluding hydro and biomass).
The use of unhealthy and unsustainable fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting in the home contributes both to greenhouse gas emissions and to dangerous concentrations of household air pollution. This indicator tracks the proportion of the population who use clean fuels and technologies for cooking and tracks types of energy usage in the residential sector.
Despite improved access to clean fuels, biomass and fossil fuels accounted for 31% and 26% of global household energy, respectively, in 2020.
1. Global Household Air Pollution (HAP) database, 2022. World Health Organization.
2. What Fuels the Fire? Cooking Fuel Estimates at Global, Regional and Country Level for 1990-2030, 2021. Stoner, O et al.
3. Global Household Energy Model: A Multivariate Hierarchical Approach to Estimating Trends in the use of Polluting and Clean Fuels for Cooking, 2020. Stoner, O et al.
4. World Extended Energy Balances, 2021. International Energy Agency. Accessed in 2022.
5. Reducing Global Air Pollution: The Scope for Further Policy Interventions, 2020. Amann, M et al.
6. World Energy Outlook 2021, 2021. International Energy Agency.
7. Global Anthropogenic Emissions of Particulate Matter including Black Carbon, 2017. Kilmont, Z et al.
8. Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX-GDDP), 2022. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
9. Household Air Pollution Attributable Death Rate (per 100 000 population), 2022. World Health Organization.
10. Indicator 7.1.2: Proportion of Population with Primary Reliance on Clean Fuels and Technology, 2019. World Health Organization.
11. Global Burden of 87 Risk Factors in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990–2019: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, 2020. GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators.
12. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Particulate Matter Risk Curves. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
13. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Results Tool. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The data from the International Energy Agency on residential energy flows and energy access provide an indication of both the access to electricity and the proportion of the different types of energy used within the residential sector, providing a suggested picture on how access and use might be interacting.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator builds on a previously published model to estimate household air pollution that accounts for fuel usage, stove types, socioeconomic variables, and ambient air pollution in 62 countries. It draws on national surveys collected by World Health Organization and tracks the proportion of the population who use clean fuels and technologies for cooking, defined as those that have emission rate targets meeting World Health Organization’s 2005 guidelines for air quality. This indicator also tracks energy at point of use with data from the International Energy Agency.
Air pollution is responsible for several million premature deaths every year. The majority of this pollution originates from sectors that also produce greenhouse gas emissions, presenting an opportunity for win-win interventions. This indicator tracks global mortality attributable to ambient PM2.5 by sector.
In 2020, exposure to ambient anthropogenic PM2.5 contributed to 3.3 million deaths. Of these, 1.2 million were directly related to fossil fuel combustion.
1. World Extended Energy Balances, 2021. International Energy Agency. Accessed in 2022.
2. World Energy Outlook 2020 and 2021, 2021. International Energy Agency.
3. World Agriculture towards 2030/2050, 2012. Alexandratos, N and Bruinma, J.
4. International Fertiziler Association Database, 2022. International Fertiziler Association.
6. World Population Prospects 2022. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
7. Global Burden of 87 Risk Factors in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990–2019: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, 2020. GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators.
8. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Particulate Matter Risk Curves, 2021. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Different dose-response relationships are used for Europe (recommended by World Health Organization-Europe) and the rest of the world. The non-linearity of the concentration-response functions used for non-European countries means that in highly polluted environments, the health benefits of a marginal reduction of emissions would be disproportionately smaller than the relative change in concentrations.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator models the premature deaths caused by air pollution from individual economic sectors, combining bottom-up emission calculations with atmospheric chemistry and dispersion coefficients and then applying this to population data and PM2.5 exposure-response relationships. This year, baseline mortality data were updated, and attributable deaths from type 2 diabetes also included. It also highlights the contribution to premature deaths from coal and biomass burning across all sectors.
Building cities and transport systems which encourage cycling and physical activity will help respond to climate change and improve public health. Transitioning to cleaner fuels for road transport will work alongside this to reduce the health impacts of air pollution. This indicator tracks fuel use for road transportation on a per capita basis, by fuel type.
Fossil fuel use in road transport fell by 0.8% in 2019, while electricity use grew by 15.7%.
1. World Extended Energy Balances, 2021. International Energy Agency. Accessed in 2022.
2. World Population Prospects 2022. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
This indicator does not capture shifts in modes of transport used. In particular, it does not capture walking and cycling for short trips, which can yield substantial health benefits through increased physical activity.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator captures change in total fuel use and type of fuel used for transport as well as electric vehicles on a per capita basis.
Total emissions from livestock and crop production have increased by 14% and 10%, respectively, from 2000 to 2016, with 93% of livestock emissions attributed to ruminants.
This indicator tracks emissions from livestock and crop production, providing the tonnes of CO2 equivalents emitted by animal or crop type, and by emission source.
Data limitations – for example on grazing emissions from small island states – have been overcome with modelled outputs.
This indicator was last updated in July 2019
– Herrero M, Havlík P, Valin H, et al. Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013; 110(52): 20888-93.
– FAOSTAT, 2019. FAO
– Chang J, Ciais P, Herrero M, et al. Combining livestock production information in a process-based vegetation model to reconstruct the history of grassland management. Biogeosciences 2016; 13(12): 3757-76.
– Carlson KM, Gerber JS, Mueller ND, et al. Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands. Nature Climate Change 2017; 7(1): 63
The food system is responsible for 20–35% of global greenhouse gas emissions, most of which originate from meat and dairy livestock. Although countries’ emissions are typically measured on a production basis, it is their consumption that generates the demand and results in diet-related health outcomes. This indicator tracks agricultural emissions from countries’ production and consumption.
Red meat and milk contribute to 55% of global agriculture emissions.
1. FAOSTAT database, 2020. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
2. Variability, Drivers and Interactions of Key Environmental Stressors from Food Production Worldwide, 2019. Dalin, C et al.
3. Biomass Use, Production, Feed Efficiencies, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Livestock Systems, 2013. Herrero, M et al.
4. Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands, 2017. Carlson, KM et al.
For livestock, some data is missing for some years, most notably Somalia (2000-2011) for non-dairy cattle, as well as data on grazing emissions from small islands is also missing. The emission factors differ from Food and Agriculture Organization numbers for livestock and for crops, due to methodology used.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator has been improved from previous reports to include data on 140 food types. Agricultural emissions from countries’ production and consumption (adjusting for international trade) for 140 food types are tracked using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Consumption refers to the net balance of food products entering a country within a given year, ie. national production and net imports together. It does not refer to the total greenhouse gas emissions attributable to food consumed by individuals.
Combined with a range of food system-wide interventions, achieving dietary change consistent with the Paris Agreement and the sustainable development goals is possible by reducing reliance on red meat consumption and prioritising healthier alternatives, with various diets and choices available depending on the region, individual, and cultural context. This indicator presents the change in deaths attributable to dietary risks by focusing on one particular area—the consumption of excess red meat.
In 2019, 11.5 million deaths were attributable to imbalanced diets, 17% related to high intake of red and processed meat and dairy products.
1. Food Balance Sheets, 2019. Food and Agriculture Organization.
2. Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention, 2011. Gustavsson, J et al., Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
3. Global Dietary Database 2017: Data Availability and Gaps on 54 Major Foods, Beverages and Nutrients among 5.6 million Children and Adults from 1220 Surveys Worldwide, 2021. Miller, V et al.
4. Trends in Adult Body-mass Index in 200 Countries from 1975 to 2014: A Pooled Analysis of 1698 Population-based Measurement Studies with 19·2 million Participants, 2016. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
5. Consumption of Nuts and Legumes and Risk of Incident Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, 2014. Afshin, A et al.
6. Fruit and Vegetable Intake and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Total Cancer and All-cause Mortality —A Systematic Review and Dose-response Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies, 2017. Aune, D et al.
7. Food Groups and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke and Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Dose-response Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies, 2019. Bechthold, A et al.
8. Food Groups and Risk of Colorectal Cancer, 2018. Schwingshackl, L et al.
9. Food Groups and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies, 2017. Schwingshackl, L et al.
10. Nut Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular disease, Total Cancer, All-cause and Cause-specific Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose-response Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies, 2016. Aune, D et al.
11. Body-mass Index and All-cause Mortality: Individual-participant-data Meta-analysis of 239 Prospective Studies in Four Continents, 2016. The Global Mortality Collaboration.
12. Global Age-sex-specific Fertility, Mortality, Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE), and Population Estimates in 204 Countries and Territories, 1950–2019: A Comprehensive Demographic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, 2020. Wang, H et al.
The relative risks used are all supported by statistically significant dose-response relationships in meta-analyses and the existence of plausible biological pathways, however, there are caveats related to nutritional epidemiological studies, such as potential measurement error of dietary exposure. Evidence quality was graded with NutriGrade as moderate or high-quality evidence and the Nutrition and Chronic Disease Expert Group and World Cancer Research Fund graded the evidence for a causal association of 10 of the 12 risk factors as probable or convincing.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the health burden from unhealthy diets and, new to this year, of imbalanced energy intake. It involves a comparative risk assessment, linking food consumption data disaggregated by sex and age (adjusted for food waste to estimate exposure) from the food balance sheets of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations with dietary and weight-related risk factors.
Health care is among the most important sectors in managing the effects of climate change and, simultaneously, has an important role in reducing its own carbon emissions. This indicator measures healthcare emissions that come directly from the sector and indirectly through purchased goods and services.
From 2018 to 2019, emissions from the healthcare sector grew more than 5%, reaching 5.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
1. An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production, 2015. Timmer, MP et al.
2. Global Health Expenditure Database, 2020. World Health Organization.
3. Basic Data Selection, 2020. United Nations Statistics Division.
4. Consumer Price Index (2010 = 100) – United States, 2021. World Bank Group.
Since only total health expenditure data is available from World Health Organization, expenditures could not be separated as demand vs investment. Multi-Regional Input Output models are built from aggregated top-down statistical data – as such results do not reflect individual healthcare systems’ power purchase agreements for renewable energy or offsetting activities. Results do not include direct emissions of waste anaesthetic gases from clinical operations or emissions from metered-dose inhalers since these are not currently reported consistently in national emissions inventories.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator models emissions from the global healthcare sector by use of environmentally extended multi-region input-output models combined with data on healthcare expenditure from World Health Organization. It also matches per-capita greenhouse gas emissions data with the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index.
The data here works to track the financial and economic dimensions of the effects of climate change, and of mitigation efforts required to respond to these changes. Indicators here monitor the economic costs of climate change and its drivers, as well as the investments and economic tools being deployed to transition to a low-carbon economy.
The data here works to track the financial and economic dimensions of the effects of climate change, and of mitigation efforts required to respond to these changes. Indicators here monitor the economic costs of climate change and its drivers, as well as the investments and economic tools being deployed to transition to a low-carbon economy.
In 2018, 831 climate-related extreme events resulted in US$166 billion in economic losses and no measurable losses in low-income countries were covered by insurance.
This indicator tracks the total measurable annual economic losses (insured and uninsured) relative to GDP, resulting from climate-related extreme events.
Where these are available, data is taken from official institutions, but where not, estimates are calculated. In cases where only low-quality information is available, such as a description of the number of homes damaged or destroyed, assumptions on value and costs are made.
This indicator was last updated in July 2019
– NatCatSERVICE, 2019. Munch Re
Climate-related extreme events result in direct deaths and injury, the spread of water-borne illness, and the destruction of habitats and infrastructure. Compounding this, these events often result in large economic costs, exacerbating the direct health impacts they produce. This indicator tracks the insured and uninsured economic losses from extreme events.
Very high Human Development Index countries suffered around half the global economic losses due to climate-related extreme events in 2021, and double the rate of the global average as a proportion of gross domestic product (gross domestic product). While around half of their losses were insured, the vast majority of the losses in other countries were uninsured.
1. Sigma Explorer: Catastrophes Database, 2022. Swiss Re Institute.
2. World Economic Outlook Databases, 2021. International Monetary Fund.
Only events with measurable economic losses above the threshold levels are included. Where these are available, data is taken from official institutions, but where not, estimates are calculated. In cases where only low-quality information is available, such as a description of the number of homes damaged or destroyed, assumptions on value and costs are made.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the total annual economic losses (insured and uninsured) relative to gross domestic product, that result from climate-related extreme events.
Exposure to extremes of heat results in an increase in all-cause mortality, particularly in the over 65 population. As exposures to extremes of heat and the resulting health outcomes continue to rise, this indicator places a monetary value on heat-related mortality for the population 65-and-over.
The monetised value of global heat-related mortality was estimated to be US$144 billion in 2021, equivalent to the average income of 12.4 million people.
1. World Population Prospects 2022. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
2. Population, Total, 2022. World Bank Group.
3. Gross domestic product (GDP), 2021. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
4. Mortality Risk Valuation in Environment, Health and Transport Policies, 2012. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Value of a statistical life year (VSLY) values rely on estimates of ‘willingness to pay’ by individuals, which are influenced by the survey design and characteristics of individuals surveyed. As VSLY estimates are not available for all countries and regions, the calculation method employed assumes that the average individual’s willingness to pay to reduce the risk of death is linked to the gross domestic product per capita of the country in which they find themselves. VSLY is assumed to be constant at different ages while some studies argue that the distribution of VSLY to age is an Inverted-U shaped.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator combines estimates on heat-related mortality from indicator 1.1.5 and the value of statistical life-year (VSLY) estimated for the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It uses a fixed ratio of the VSLY to gross domestic product per capita. The value of mortality is presented as a proportion of total gross domestic product and as number of peoples’ incomes the loss would be equivalent to in a given country and region.
Higher temperatures, driven by climate change, are affecting people’s ability to work. This indicator considers the loss of earnings that could result from such reduced capacity, compounding the initial cause of ill health and impacting on wellbeing.
The global potential income loss from labour capacity reduction due to extreme heat was US$669 billion in 2021. The agricultural sector was the most severely affected, incurring 82% and 71% of the average losses in low and medium Human Development Index countries, respectively.
1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. Accessed in 2022.
2. Gridded Population of the World Version 4, 2021. Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
3. International Labour Organization (ILO) International Statistics Database, 2021. ILO.
4. International Finance Statistics, 2021. International Monetary Fund.
5. World Economic Outlook Databases, 2021. International Monetary Fund.
There are data gaps in the International Labour Organization Earnings and Labour Income dataset for the years studied for each country and thus several assumptions were incorporated in order to fill these data gaps. The indicator does not measure time off work actually taken. Results reflect potential loss of earnings in formal paid sectors, rather than actual loss, and do not include informal and unpaid labour that is significant in many countries.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
The indicator combines heat-related potential work hours lost in agriculture, construction, service, and industry as estimated in Indicator 1.1.4 with data on average earnings by country and sectors.
Air pollution is responsible for several million deaths each year, resulting in profound economic costs. Efforts to mitigate climate change often reduce air pollution, resulting in significant cost-savings and a cost-effective intervention. This indicator tracks the costs of life lost from exposure to anthropogenic air pollution.
In 2020, the monetised costs of premature mortality due to air pollution amounted to US$2.3 trillion, the equivalent of 2.7% of gross world product.
1. World Extended Energy Balances, 2021. International Energy Agency. Accessed in 2022.
2. World Energy Outlook 2020 and 2021. International Energy Agency.
3. World Economic Outlook Databases, 2021. International Monetary Fund.
4. International Fertiziler Association Database, 2022. International Fertiziler Association.
5. World Population Prospects 2019. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
6. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Particulate Matter Risk Curves, 2021. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Value of a statistical life year (VSLY) values rely on estimates of ‘willingness to pay’ by individuals, which are influenced by the survey design and characteristics of individuals surveyed. As VSLY estimates are not available for all countries and regions, the calculation method employed assumes that the average individual’s willingness to pay to reduce the risk of death is linked to the gross domestic product per capita of the country in which they find themselves. VSLY is assumed to be constant at different ages while some studies argue that the distribution of VSLY to age is an Inverted-U shaped.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator estimates the change in Years of Life Lost due to anthropogenic PM2.5 for 137 countries in years 2019 and 2020. It combines data from Indicator 3.3 and the value of statistical life-year (VSLY) estimated for the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) using a fixed ratio of the value of VSLY to gross domestic product (gross domestic product) per capita. The value of mortality is presented as a proportion of total gross domestic product and as number of people’s income the loss would be equivalent to in a given country and region.
In Europe, improvements in particulate air pollution from human activity were seen from 2015 to 2016. If the levels of pollution for these two years remained the same over a person’s lifetime, this would lead to an annual average reduction in Years of Life Lost worth €5.2 billion.
This indicator estimates the change in Years of Life Lost due to PM2.5 in European Union countries from 2015 to 2016, applied across 100 years to the 2015 population. A Value of a Life Year (€50,000) is then assigned to the Years of Life Lost to give an estimation of the annual average economic reduction of this change in PM2.5.
Data is only available for EU countries and will be expanded in subsequent years. A Value of a Life Year of €50,000 is the lower bound estimate as suggested by the EU Impact Assessment Guidelines. This value does not take into account the health economic costs of healthcare delivery or societal economic costs such as workforce losses, thus representing an underestimation of real economic losses.
This indicator was last updated in July 2019
– Amann M, Bertok I, Borken-Kleefeld J, et al. Cost-effective control of air quality and greenhouse gases in Europe: Modeling and policy applications. Environmental Modelling & Software 2011; 26(12): 1489-501
– World Energy Outlook, 2017. IEA
Coal phase-out is both an essential first step in the response to climate change and an important intervention to reduce morbidity and mortality from air pollution. Investment in zero-carbon energy and energy efficiency must continue to displace investment in fossil fuels if the world is to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. This indicator monitors investments in new coal-fired capacity and in renewable energy supply and energy efficiency.
Between 2020 and 2021, investment in global energy supply investment increased by 14%; zero-carbon sources accounted for 80% of investment in electricity generation in 2021.
1. World Energy Investment, 2022. International Energy Agency.
Investment estimates are derived from International Energy Agency data for energy demand, supply and trade, and estimates of unit capacity costs. Other areas of expenditure, including operation and maintenance, research and development, financing costs, mergers and acquisitions or public markets transactions, are not included.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator draws on data from the annual International Energy Agency World Energy Investment to track global coal investment. It also uses the International Energy Agency data to assess 7 categories of energy investment: hydropower, bioenergy, other renewables (include solar and wind), nuclear power, energy efficiency, electricity networks and storage and fossil fuels.
Evidence suggests that employees in some fossil fuel extraction industries and their local communities, suffer a greater incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease and cancers. Investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency are estimated to create almost three times more jobs per unit of spending than those in fossil fuel industries. Along with strong labour and environmental standards, investment and employment in renewables present an opportunity to improve health and livelihoods. This indicator tracks global direct employment in fossil fuel extraction industries and direct and indirect (supply chain) employment in renewable energy.
With over 12 million employees, direct and indirect employment in renewable energy exceeded direct employment in fossil fuel extraction for the first time in 2020.
1. Renewable Energy and Jobs, Annual Review 2021, 2021. International Renewable Energy Agency.
2. Global Coal Mining, 2022. IBISWorld.
3. Global Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, 2022. IBISWorld.
Fossil fuel extraction values include direct employment, whereas renewable energy jobs include direct and indirect employment. At the time of writing, 2021 data on employment in the renewables sector was unavailable.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator draws on International Renewable Energy Agency and IBISWorld to track the number of jobs in renewable and fossil fuel extraction sectors, respectively.
Public health institutions have a long history of divesting from products that harm the health of their patients – whether they be tobacco, alcohol, or arms. Increasingly, they are choosing not to invest in the fossil fuel industry because of its impact on public health and on climate change. This indicator tracks the global value of fossil fuel divestment and the value of funds divested by health and medical institutions.
The global value of funds committing to fossil fuel divestment between 2008 and 2021 was US$40.23 trillion, with health institutions accounting for US$54 billion.
1. Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Commitments Database, 2022. Stand.earth and 350.org.
Due to confidentiality issues, the value of funds divested by each organisation is not available. The year of divestment reflects the year when the commitment was recorded in stand.earth or 350.org.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks the total global value of funds divested from fossil fuels, and the value of divested funds coming from health institutions, using self-reported data from stand.earth and 350.org.
Placing a price on greenhouse gas emissions provides an incentive to drive the transition towards a low-carbon economy. This strategy also allows for a closer reflection of the true cost of emissions-intensive practices, particularly fossil fuel use, capturing some of the negative externalities resulting from their impact on health. However, not all countries have explicitly set carbon prices, and, in some cases, the strength of any carbon price might be undermined by the opposing influence of subsidies on fossil fuel production and consumption. As the world works to move away from fossil fuel use, this indicator tracks both carbon pricing mechanisms and fossil fuel subsidies to estimate net carbon prices and revenues.
80% of the 86 countries reviewed had a net-negative carbon price in 2019, hindering the transition away from fossil fuels. The resulting net loss of government revenue was in many cases equivalent to large proportions of the national health budget.
1. Energy Subsidies – Tracking the Impact of Fossil Fuel Subsidies, 2021. International Energy Agency.
2. OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels, 2021. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
3. World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard, 2021. World Bank Group.
4. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Energy, 1751-2020, 2021. International Energy Agency.
5. Global Health Expenditure Database, 2020. World Health Organization.
6. World Economic Outlook Databases, 2021. International Monetary Fund.
The economy-wide net carbon price was derived by dividing fossil fuel subsidies and carbon pricing revenues by total CO2 emissions. This fits well with the subsidies, as these are for fossil fuels, the principal source of CO2. However, some of the carbon pricing instruments from which the revenue was assessed are not only for fossil fuel combustion but apply to other sectors and non-CO2 gases.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator calculates net, economy-wide average carbon prices and associated net carbon revenue to the government. The calculations are based on the value of overall fossil fuel subsidies (taking into account both budgetary transfers and tax expenditures), the revenue from carbon pricing mechanisms, and the total CO2 emissions of the economy. Positive results indicate a net tax on CO2 emissions, while negative results indicate a net subsidy for fossil fuels.
The production of goods and services drives both greenhouse gas and PM2.5 emissions, thus contributing to impacts on health and wellbeing. A comparison of production- and consumption-based emissions gives a better understanding of how emissions are embodied in global trade, which is essential to enable better international policy formulation that protects human health in all geographies. As the world works towards net-zero emissions, this indicator tracks the pollution burden from a country’s local production and final consumption.
In 2020, 18% of CO2 and 17% of PM2.5 global emissions were emitted in the production of goods and services traded between countries of different Human Development Index levels. The very high Human Development Index country group remained as the only group with net outsourcing of both CO2 and PM2.5 emissions from its consumption.
1. EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables, 2018. stadler, K et al.
2. Global Carbon Project 2021, 2021. Friedlingstein, P et al.
3. World Bank Open Data database, 2022. World Bank Group.
4. WTO STATS database, 2022. World Trade Organization.
5. Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS), 2021. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
6. Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) database, 2022. European Commission.
Air pollution Interactions and Synergies process emissions are only distributed across Multi-Regional Input Output sectors that can be clearly identified. Truck-related emissions are distributed among all sectors based on diesel consumption. Simplifications and assumptions made during the emission inventory disaggregation stage may bring uncertainties into the results.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator estimates the embodied flows of CO2 and PM2.5 in international trade and then calculates national CO2 and PM2.5 emissions from the consumption perspective using environmentally extended multi-regional input-output analysis.
Carbon dioxide is responsible for around three-quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change has multiple direct impacts on human health, and reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in order to reduce climate change will bring about significantly improved health outcomes. This indicator connects CO2 emissions to the activities of major oil and gas companies that extract these fossil fuels, and analyses the extent to which their future production plans are consistent with the need to reduce CO2 emissions consistent with limiting global average surface temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The current strategies of 15 of the largest oil and gas companies would lead to production exceeding their share of levels consistent with limiting global average surface temperature rise to 1.5°C by 37% in 2030, and 103% in 2040.
1. World Energy Outlook 2021, 2021. International Energy Agency.
2. UCube Database, 2022. Rystad Energy.
3. Key World Energy Statistics 2021, 2021. International Energy Agency.
Even if oil and gas firms follow the Paris-compliant pathways outlined here, there is still a substantial chance that temperature targets will be exceeded. Oil and gas firms are assumed here to have constant market shares. This assumption is typical for this sort of analysis but can be expected to introduce errors for at least some firms that increase over time. These uncertainties are likely to increase over time, meaning projections in the long-term are less certain than in the shorter-term.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
The indicator tracks the gap between the projected production of oil and gas companies based on their actual activities, and production trajectories consistent with the Paris target of 1.5°C of warming. The indicator is expressed as a percentage of the projected production of each company is above or below a pathway consistent with the Paris targets. The indicator analyses both international, publicly traded oil companies and national oil companies, which in many cases have larger production volumes than IOCs but are subject to less public or shareholder scrutiny.
Public and political engagement underpins the foundations of the world’s collective response to climate change, with reductions in global emissions at the speed required by the Paris Agreement depending on engagement from all sectors of society. The indicators in this section track the links between health and climate change in the media, national governments, the corporate sector, and the broader public.
Newspapers provide an important forum for public engagement. They shape public understanding of climate change, both through their influence on their readers and the wider political agenda. This indicator tracks coverage of health and climate change in leading newspapers in 37 countries, including China’s People’s Daily.
Coverage of health and climate change reached a record of 14,474 articles in 2021; however, this coverage only constitutes a small proportion of climate change coverage.
1. Nexis Uni® database.
2. Factiva© database.
3. ProQuest LLC database.
4. People’s Daily official website.
The selected newspapers cannot be taken to be representative of all media reporting in their countries, and the content analysis does not reflect the ways in which climate change and/or health is reported in the media, nor the general messaging. The search terms used are likely to have influenced the types of articles obtained, and databases might return hits of duplicate articles.
In developing the search strategy for the 2021 Lancet Countdown report, it was found that a significant portion of articles may mention both climate change and health but do not engage with them as integrated issues. Including this coverage remains important as it brings both sets of issues – health and climate change – onto the public agenda and into public awareness.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
Articles from 2007 to 2021 in 66 newspapers across 36 countries, written in English, German, Portuguese and Spanish were analysed using key word searches within three databases. Additionally, articles in Chinese in China’s People’s Daily were assessed through a process of first trawling through all articles and then searching for keywords in article text.
Online activity is increasingly being used to understand and drive public and individual engagement, transforming individual access to global knowledge and debates. This indicator tracks individuals’ information-seeking behaviour on Wikipedia in relation to the link between climate change and health.
Individual engagement in health and climate change increased by 19% between 2020 and 2021 – but health and climate change are seldom topics that people engaged with at the same time.
1. Wikimedia Dumps, 2022. Wikimedia Foundation
The data is not geo-referenced, so it is not possible to infer the location page visits came from. Only English Wikipedia pages were considered in the analysis (approximately 50% of total Wikipedia pages), and while they are accessed globally, it is biased towards English-speaking countries.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator measures the number of clicks from health-related Wikipedia articles that lead to visits to climate change-related Wikipedia articles, and the number of visits to climate change-related articles that result in clicks to health-related pages from 2018-2021. This ‘clickstream data’ is used as a proxy for the degree to which individuals engage with health and climate change as related issues.
Peer-reviewed scientific journals are the premier source of high-quality research that provides evidence used by the media, the government, and the public. This indicator tracks scientific engagement with health and climate change in peer-reviewed journals.
The number of scientific papers investigating health and climate change increased by 22% from 2020 to 2021.
1. Web of Science database, 2022.
2. Scopus database, 2022.
3. MEDLINE database, 2022.
The use of machine learning means that there will be some uncertainty as to the number of relevant documents. The quality of the data and the specifics of its content are not assessed, however, with the outputs all published in peer-reviewed journals, there is a de facto quality check. For this reason, the indicator does not cover grey literature.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator identifies original research articles and research-related articles published from 2007 to 2021 that cover health and climate change topics using a machine-learning approach. This allowed for a more granular picture of the research landscape, including developments across major domains of research (mitigation, adaptation, impacts), the health impacts covered, locations studied, as well as patterns of authorship.
Meeting the commitments under the Paris Agreement requires accelerated and ambitious interventions from governments across the world. Ensuring these efforts maximise human health and wellbeing begins with these issues being recognised as important areas of concern, and as reasons for change. This indicator tracks references to health and climate change in the speeches of global leaders at the United Nations General Debate at the General Assembly, the key event for Member States to speak about their nations’ priorities and concerns, as well as references to health in the nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement.
The proportion of countries referring to the health-climate change nexus increased in both the 2021 United Nations General Assembly (to 60%) and in updated nationally determined contribution submissions (to 86%).
1. Understanding State Preferences With Text As Data: Introducing the UN General Debate Corpus, 2017. Batuor, A et al.
2. Nationally Determined Contributions Registry, 2022. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The results present a somewhat conservative estimate of high-level political engagement with the intersection of climate change and health. There may be examples of governments referring to climate change and health but not the direct linkages between the two and there may be examples of governments discussing the health impacts of climate change in their United Nations General Debate speeches but the distance between the climate change term and the health term exceeds 25 words. The analyses are based on a narrow range of search terms, which excludes reference to many of indirect links between climate change and health.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
This indicator tracks government engagement in health and climate change in two key forums. It assesses reference to health and climate change as well as their prominence in the text of all available (up until 2021) Nationally Determined Contributions by Parties to the Paris Agreement. It also tracks mentions of climate change and health in statements made by national leaders at the United Nations General Debate, which is part of the annual United Nations General Assembly, as proxy of high-level political engagement on these two topics as separate and related issues.
The corporate sector is central to the transition to a low-carbon economy, both through its own behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions and its wider political influence. This indicator tracks engagement with health and climate change in healthcare companies within the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s biggest corporate sustainability framework.
Engagement in health and climate change increased in 2021 to its highest level among companies in the United Nations Global Compact, with 38% of corporations referring to the health-climate change nexus.
1. Communication on Progress (CoP) portal, 2022. United Nations Global Compact.
This analysis is based on a narrow range of search terms, which excludes reference to many of indirect links between climate change and health, such as the effect of climate change on agriculture. Therefore, the results present a somewhat conservative estimate of high corporate engagement with the intersection of climate change and health.
This indicator was last updated in September 2022
United Nations Global Compact Communication on Progress reports from health and healthcare companies from 2011 to 2021 were assessed for references to health and climate change using key search terms. This included companies based in 129 countries, with reports spanning 30 different languages.
