WHO says six climate measures could save 1.6 million lives a year

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that six existing public health and climate measures, expanded worldwide, could prevent 1.6 million deaths a year, about one in every 40 deaths, and produce trillions of dollars in economic gains.

The findings are in a report the agency titled Global benefits and costs of prioritised actions on climate change and health, released ahead of COP31, the next round of United Nations climate negotiations, where governments are due to present their climate commitments.

The six measures are heat-health warning systems, climate-resilient drinking water services, basic sanitation and handwashing facilities, cleaner household fuels and technologies for cooking and heating, and more efficient fossil fuel pricing.

"The climate crisis is a health crisis, but much of the harm it causes can be prevented with tools we already have," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He said expanding proven, affordable actions would save the most lives in the countries that need them most, and urged governments to put health at the centre of climate action as they prepare for the negotiations.

Fossil fuel pricing delivers the largest gains. According to the report, removing inefficient subsidies and taxing fuels so their price reflects the cost to health, climate and the environment could prevent 1.2 million deaths a year and generate $3 trillion in economic welfare benefits plus $5.4 trillion in fiscal gains.

WHO put the return on the other five measures at $24.8 in benefits for every $1 invested, with higher returns expected in low- and middle-income countries. Heat-health warning systems alone are projected to return $835 for every $1 spent, which the report attributes to the low cost of extending systems that already exist.

The agency said 3.6 billion people live in areas that leave them highly exposed to climate change and its effects on health. Without further action, it estimates that undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress will cause 250,000 premature deaths a year between 2030 and 2050, and that an additional 500 million people could be exposed to disease-carrying insects and other vectors by 2050.

Premium Times reported that the report also estimates the measures would avoid 16.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, equal to 31 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions excluding land use and forestry.

WHO called on governments, development partners and financing institutions to use the economic evidence to scale the interventions up, saying they would bring gains for public health, for cutting emissions and for national economies at the same time.