Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change

This study highlights the growing body of evidence that quantifies the health losses directly attributable to anthropogenic climate change, with a particular emphasis on mortality, illness and wider well-being impacts across diverse regions and populations. It synthesises twenty end‑to‑end attribution studies that compare factual and counterfactual climate scenarios to isolate the human‑caused contribution to heat-related deaths, extreme weather impacts, vector‑borne diseases, wildfire air pollution, neonatal outcomes and population displacement. The work underscores that these impacts are unevenly distributed, with research disproportionately focused on high‑income countries despite the heightened vulnerability of low‑ and middle‑income regions. 

The authors recommend expanding geographically representative research, strengthening locally led studies in the global South and improving access to open, high‑quality health and climate data. They call for broader assessment of under‑studied risks—including malnutrition, non‑communicable diseases and mental health—and for integrating attribution findings into policy processes such as loss‑and‑damage financing and climate litigation. The study emphasises that treating climate change as a public health emergency requires investment in early warning systems, targeted adaptation strategies and equitable research partnerships, ensuring that evidence on health impacts informs disaster risk reduction and long‑term resilience planning.