Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Estimates suggest 247 billion potential labor hours lost per year from heat exposure in 2024 – a record high of nearly 420 hours per person – and 124% more than during 1990–1999.
According to the ‘Lancet Countdown to 2025 Report on Health and Climate Change’, the agriculture sector faces 66% loss in 2024 and the construction sector 20%.
It said reduced labor capacity due to extreme heat is linked to a potential income loss of US$194 billion in 2024.
An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and United Nations agencies, led by University College London, was involved in the production of the ninth edition of the report.
He said the report, published ahead of the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30), provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the links between climate change and health.
He said continued overdependence on fossil fuels and failure to adapt to climate change is impacting people’s lives, health and livelihoods, with 12 of 20 indicators tracking health threats reaching unprecedented levels.
Heat-related deaths have increased by 23% to 546,000 per year since the 1990s, while the average transmissibility of dengue globally has increased by 49% since the 1950s, the team said.
“In 2024, people in India were exposed to heat waves on average for 19.8 days. Of these, 6.6 days of exposure would not have been expected without climate change,” they wrote in a country-specific data sheet accompanying the report.
Additionally, during 2020-2024, an average of 10,200 deaths per year in India can be traced to PM2.5 pollution from forest fires – a 28% increase from rates during 2003-2012.
The report said human-caused PM2.5 pollution was responsible for more than 1.7 million deaths in 2022 – up 38% since 2010 – with the use of fossil fuels such as coal and liquefied gas accounting for 44% of the deaths.
It said 2.69 lakh deaths were caused by the use of petrol for road transport.
,