Use the “trillions of dollars spent to finance fossil fuels” to drive a “rapid and just transition” to “a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) economy.” This, in a word, is what he asks. the new report Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Changepublished in the early hours of October 30.
Like Marina Romanello, executive director of Lancet Countdown At University College London, the results of this new study are said to be “the most worrying” since they began monitoring the health impact of the climate emergency eight years ago.
Something which, in any case, he says, is not surprising, since 2023 “broke all records” with “extreme heat waves, deadly weather events and devastating wildfires.”” everywhere on the planet. Because, Romanello reminds us, “no person or economy is safe from the health threats of climate change.” And neither is Spain.
The report ensures that since 2014, every citizen of our country has been exposed to a moderate to high risk of heat stress on average 220 hours per year. This figure also only takes into account “outdoor activities during the day.”
Despite the “alarming” data collected by the 122 experts from 57 academic institutions, the UN, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) who participated in the study Lancet CountdownThe “expansion” of fossil fuels is not stopping. “Despite this threat, we see that financial resources continue to be invested in the same things that harm our health“insists Romanello.
Thus, as noted in the opening lines of this article, the report’s authors demand the reallocation of “billions of dollars invested or subsidized each year to the fossil fuel industry.”
Because, indicates the executive director of the study, this “would offer the possibility of achieving a fair and equitable transition to clean energy and energy efficiency, and a healthier future, ultimately benefiting the global economy.
The health of Spaniards is deteriorating
What is the relationship between climate change and health? Greenhouse gas emissions, microplastic pollution or the consequences of global warming, among others, are some of the causes of the collapse of health systems and the degradation of people’s daily lives.
As the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) warns in a study published in mid-October 2024, climate change will have “a serious impact on emergency services around the world”. And more and more health professionals recognize that Complications linked to the ecological crisis put pressure on hospital emergencies and primary care.
“The impact on health will be equal to or greater than the consequences of global warming,” explains Luis García Castrillo, Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine at Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital (Santander) and author of the EUSEM report. And this is something that, now, the Lancet Countdown corroborates.
In Spain for example, between 2014 and 2023, “all children and those over 65 were exposed respectively to an average of 13.1 and 12.6 days of heatwave per year”, specifies the macro-study. In this same period, The extremely high temperatures to which children under the age of one were subjected were 2.6 times more virulent than the demographic equivalent between 1986 and 2005.. For those over 65, the situation was 3.2 times worse.
Heat kills, but it is not the only threat highlighted by the authors of the study. The “suitability” of the Spanish territory for certain infectious diseases also has a lot to do with the climate crisis.
He Lancet Countdown highlights the increaseor leishmaniasis or common ticks, for example, as an indicator of the increase in vectors in our country. Regarding the second, he specifically explains that when comparing the eating habits of this insect in the periods 1951-60 and 2013-22, we observe that the months of its activity increased from 5.57 to 6.05. The problem is that these vectors can cause both Lyme disease and encephalitis.
The economic impact of heat
High temperatures favor the reproduction of certain vectors and heatwaves which, by themselves, deteriorate the health of citizens. In addition, Every year since 2019, 62% of Spanish territory has experienced “at least one month of extreme drought” and 44% even a minimum of three months.
This, the report’s authors explain, translates into a total increase of 43% and 40%, respectively, compared to the 1950s decade of the last century.
The positive side, however, concerns the fight against forest fires. “Exposure to active fires in Spain decreased by 32% between 2019 and 2023 compared to the period between 2003 and 2007.”
Heat therefore has various implications. Among them there is also the economic impact, an aspect in which the Lancet Countdown places particular emphasis. “Exposure to heat limits work productivity, compromising livelihoods and social determinants of health,” the study says.
So, in 2023 alone, 209 million productive hours were lost in Spain due to heat. This implies a “potential loss of income linked to work capacity” of more than $3 billion (nearly 2.8 billion euros).
If we move the focus away from Spain, according to the authors of the report, the human costs of climate change have already, in 2023, been “unprecedented”. And the increase in temperatures has also caused ana “record potential loss of 512 billion working hours worldwide in 2023 (an increase of 49% compared to the 1990-1999 average), with potential revenue losses equivalent to $835 billion. »
As Professor Wenjia Cai, co-chair of Working Group 4 of Lancet Countdown At Tsinghua University, “people around the world are increasingly suffering from the financial and health effects of climate change.” Of course, he specifies, these are “Disadvantaged communities in countries with limited resources are hardest hit”. And, he denounces, “adaptation fails to cope with growing threats”.
