Climate change is killing millions: an expert explains why many deaths go unnoticed

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🗞️ Driving the news: In 2022, extreme heat linked to climate change resulted in an estimated 61,672 deaths across Europe, with many victims having pre-existing health issues
• Climate epidemiologist Colin Carlson highlights the severe impact of climate change on global mortality, noting a possible death toll of over 4 million since 2000 due to various climate-related factors.

🔭 The context: Attribution science, which quantifies the impact of climate change on specific extreme weather events, allows for these estimations
• Carlson calls for a paradigm shift in how we perceive and address the climate crisis, stressing its growing toll on human health through diseases like malaria, malnutrition, and heart disease.

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The rising death toll attributed to climate change surpasses many recognized public health emergencies
• This crisis, though less immediately visible than pandemics like COVID-19, demands urgent and sustained global action in climate and health policies.

⏭️ What's next: Governments are urged to acknowledge and tackle climate change as a serious health crisis. This includes investing in healthcare, predictive modeling for climate-related diseases, and building climate-resilient health systems
• The WHO emphasizes the need for a sustained, long-term approach to address this chronic global crisis.

💬 One quote: “Vanishingly few of these deaths will have been recognized by the victims’ families, or acknowledged by national governments, as the consequence of climate change,” – Colin Carlson, US climate epidemiologist.

📈 One stat: The estimated death toll from climate change is on track to surpass 4 million since 2000.

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