Washington DC [US], November 15 : A new report from more than 100 scientists and health practitioners has found that the climate crisis is set to put more lives at risk without bold action to phase out fossil fuels, CNN reported.
The annual Lancet Countdown report, released on Tuesday, found that delaying climate action will lead to a nearly five-fold increase in heat-related deaths by 2050, underscoring that the health of humans around the world is "at the mercy of fossil fuels."
Authors say governments, banks and companies are still allowing the use of fossil fuels to expand and harm human health, despite the growing health hazards and the costs of adapting to climate change.
Lancet Countdown's executive director and lead author, Marina Romanello, told CNN: "We're seeing that we're moving in the opposite direction to where we should be going with the expansion of private companies' oil and gas production plans, financing going toward the fossil fuel sector, and all in all a promotion of oil and gas burning that is threatening our survival around the world."
"Mortality is just the tip of the iceberg of the enormous burden that comes with heat," she added.
Romanello stressed that if the world continues to be dependent on fossil fuels, the consequences could be catastrophic not only for human health but also for the economy.
The planet has already warmed roughly 1.2 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era in the late 1800s. When the world is two degrees warmer, the report found countries will start to see a 50 per cent increase in labour capacity loss because of exposure to extreme heat, which could lead to enormous economic losses and losses to livelihoods and wellbeing, as per CNN.
More than half a billion more people in the world will suffer food insecurity by mid-century, the report found, if the planet warms two degrees.
"The underlying message is that we need to pursue efforts urgently to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees, but that every fraction of a degree of temperature increase matters," Romanello said.
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