Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 394, Issue 10211, 16–22 November 2019, Pages 1836-1878
The Lancet

Review
The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32596-6Get rights and content

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Executive Summary

The Lancet Countdown is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement.

The 2019 report presents an annual update of 41 indicators across five key domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health

Section 1: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerabilities

Climate change and human health are interconnected in a myriad of complex ways.13 Building on the Lancet Countdown's previous work, section 1 of the 2019 report continues to track quantitative metrics along pathways of population vulnerability, exposure, and health outcomes that are indicative of the cost to human health of climate change, and thus of the urgent need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The impacts tracked here in turn motivate and guide climate change adaptation (section 2) and

Section 2: adaptation, planning, and resilience for health

As knowledge of the health consequences of climate change increases, so too does the urgent need to increase efforts to protect people from adverse effects, particularly given the slow progress of mitigation of these effects. Health systems will be placed under increasing and overwhelming pressure, and adaptation to climate change is essential, even with the most ambitious mitigation efforts.58 An adaptation gap is apparent, emphasised in some of the aforementioned impacts, and the rapid

Section 3: mitigation actions and health co-benefits

As emphasised in section 1, climate change has already impacted human health and requires an urgent response, both in terms of health adaptation (section 2) and importantly, in mitigation, to minimise future effects from climate change.

In keeping with the Paris Agreement's commitment of limiting temperature increase to “well below 2°C”, and to pursue the 1·5°C target, global emissions must peak as soon as possible (some studies suggest as early as 2020) and then follow a steep decline to 2050.2

Section 4: economics and finance

Section 4 examines the financial and economic dimensions of the effects of climate change, and of mitigation efforts required to respond to these changes. Although many indicators in this section could appear to be distant from human health, they are key to tracking the low-carbon transition that underpins current and future determinants of human health and wellbeing described in sections 1–3.

The projected economic cost of inaction to tackle climate change is enormous. For example, compared

Section 5: public and political engagement

As the previous sections have emphasised, climate change is human in both origins and effects. Its origins lie in the burning of fossil fuels, particularly during early industrial periods, and its effects include an increasing toll on human health. Reductions in global greenhouse-gas emissions at the speed required by the Paris Agreement depend on engagement by all sectors of society.

In the 2019 Lancet Countdown report, section 5 focuses on engagement in four domains: the media, government,

Conclusion: The Lancet Countdown in 2019

The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was formed 4 years ago, building on the work of the 2015 Lancet Commission. It remains committed to an open and iterative process, always aiming to strengthen its methods, source new and novel forms of data, and partner with global leaders in public health and in climate change. The 41 indicators presented in the 2019 report represent the consensus and work of the past 12 months and are grouped into five categories: climate

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