Unprecedented warming demands unprecedented action: the 2024 Europe Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change

The Lancet Countdown in Europe (LCDE) aims to provide accessible information on the broadscale health impacts of climate change, and the health co-benefits of climate action in Europe by developing indicators to track changes over time across the continent. 41 indicators track climate-health relationships over the period 1950-2022 across five themes (1) impact, exposure, and vulnerability; (2) adaption, planning and resilience; (3) mitigation actions and health co-benefits; (4) economics and finance; and (5) politics and governance. Indicators suggest that the negative health impacts of climate change are rapidly increasing compared to baseline levels, with most impacts worsening since the last reporting period in 2022. Rising temperatures increased heat-related mortality, reduced labour supply, and increased periods of risky hours for physical activity beyond the hottest part of the day. Exposure to extreme events such as heatwaves, wildfire hazards, and droughts have increased in most European subregions, also resulting in large health impacts including increased food insecurity. Furthermore, the climatic suitability for a wide range of climate-sensitive infectious diseases and their vectors (e.g., leishmaniasis, West Nile virus, dengue, malaria, Ixodes ricinus ticks) continues to increase rapidly across Europe. These health threats were experienced differently across European subregions and population groups – with southern Europe tending to be more affected by heat-related illnesses, wildfires, drought, food insecurity, and leishmaniasis, whereas northern Europe is equally or more negatively affected by Vibrio and ticks. Yet, appropriate adaptation and mitigation remain largely neglected. The 2024 LCDE report highlights that climate change impacts on human health are not far-in-the-future theoretical scenarios and that – despite some progress in mitigation and adaptation – current emission reduction efforts are inadequate, jeopardising environmental and human health in Europe and across the globe.