Global Heat Crisis: A Life Lost Every Minute

By Staff, Agencies

Rising global heat is now killing one person a minute around the world, a major report on the health impact of the climate crisis has revealed.

It said the world’s addiction to fossil fuels also causes toxic air pollution, wildfires and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever, and millions each year are dying owing to the failure to tackle global heating.

The report, the most comprehensive to date, said the damage to health will get worse with leaders such as Donald Trump ripping up climate policies and oil companies continuing to exploit new reserves.

In 2023, governments handed fossil fuel firms $2.5 billion daily in subsidies—roughly equal to what people lost due to heat keeping them off farms and construction sites.

Cutting coal saves 400 lives daily, renewables rise, but continued fossil fuel funding threatens the future.

Dr. Marina Romanello of University College London [UCL] said the report shows a grim global health toll that will keep worsening until fossil fuel dependence ends.

“We’re seeing millions of deaths occurring needlessly every year… as key leaders, governments and corporations backslide on climate commitments,” she warned.

The report said the heat-related deaths have risen 23% since the 1990s, averaging 546,000 a year [2012–2021].

“That is approximately one heat-related death every minute,” said Prof. Ollie Jay of the University of Sydney, noting the number is rising and largely preventable.

Laura Clarke, the chief executive of the environmental law firm ClientEarth, said we’re now living through the era of climate consequences, with accountability for impacts “no longer a question of if but when.”

The 2025 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, led by UCL with World Health Organization [WHO], involved 128 experts from over 70 institutions.

In the past four years, humans faced 19 life-threatening heat days annually—16 due to global heating—causing 639 billion lost work hours in 2024 and 6% GDP loss in the poorest nations.

Fossil fuels fuel heat and air pollution, causing millions of deaths; wildfires killed 154,000 in 2024, and droughts and heatwaves left 123 million more people food insecure in 2023.

In 2023, governments gave $956 bn in fossil fuel subsidies—far exceeding the $300 bn pledged at Cop29 to help vulnerable countries—even as it was the hottest year on record.

In 2023, the UK gave $28 bn and Australia $11 bn in fossil fuel subsidies, while 15 countries—including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Venezuela, and Algeria—spent more on subsidies than on health.

The world’s top 100 fossil fuel firms plan production that would triple CO₂ emissions allowed under the 1.5 °C Paris target, while the 40 biggest banks invested $611 bn in fossil fuels versus $532 bn in green projects in 2024.an

Romanello said: “If we keep on financing fossil fuels and enabling this expansion of fossil fuels, we know that a healthy future is not possible.”

She said the solutions to avoid a climate catastrophe and protect lives existed, from clean energy to city adaptation to healthier, climate-friendly diets.

“Any optimism comes from local communities and the health sector seeing impacts firsthand and stepping up, but momentum must continue,” she said.