PETALING JAYA: Climate inaction is no longer a distant risk but a present public health threat, with worsening heat, air pollution and disease exposure already costing lives.
Lead collaborator of the Lancet Countdown on Public Health and Climate Change Prof Dr Meisam Tabatabaei said the report’s data shows a clear and troubling trend of deteriorating health conditions linked to climate change.
“Across the indicators we track, we are seeing a rapid shift towards worse health outcomes.
“In the latest year of data, 65% of the indicators monitoring climate-related health threats reached record levels,” he said when speaking at the Lancet Countdown on Climate, Health and National Policy report.
Heat exposure remains one of the most immediate dangers.
“Globally, deaths linked to heat have risen to more than half a million a year, while people were exposed to an average of 19 days of health-threatening heatwaves over the past five years.
“About 84% of those heatwave days would not have occurred without human-driven climate change,” he said.
“These conditions directly affect survival, productivity and daily life, particularly in tropical countries like Malaysia,” he added.
Lancet Countdown executive director Dr Marina Romanello said the cost of delayed climate action is measured not only in environmental damage, but in lives that could have been saved.
“Delays in climate action are increasingly costing lives and livelihoods, causing millions of deaths every year,” she said, pointing to air pollution from fossil fuels as a major driver.
In 2022 alone, a global estimate of 2.5 million deaths were linked to outdoor air pollution from fossil fuel burning, while another 2.3 million deaths were attributed to indoor pollution from dirty fuels used in homes.
“These are avoidable deaths. We know how to transition to cleaner energy and transport systems, yet we continue to rely on highly polluting fuels like coal,” she said.
Dr Romanello also highlighted the economic strain of inaction, noting that global fossil fuel subsidies reached nearly US$1 trillion in 2023, diverting resources away from health and social services.
Selangor public health and environment executive councillor Jamaliah Jamaluddin said the findings underline the urgent need to translate climate evidence into real-world health protection.
“Climate change is already affecting Malaysians through heatwaves, floods, dengue and air quality.
“The key challenge now is implementation, ensuring policies protect people,” she said.
“Climate action should be viewed primarily as a public health investment; further delays would only deepen health risks and economic costs in the years ahead,” she added.
