Michelle So, Contributing Photographer

The world is nearing 1.5°C of global mean heating above pre-industrial levels, pointing to the pitfalls of climate undertakings.

Founded the same year as the 2015 Paris Agreement, the Lancet Countdown features 122 climate and health experts’ takes on our changing climate and its health effects. This year’s findings were dubbed “the most concerning findings yet in the collaboration’s eight years of monitoring.” Of the 15 indicators monitoring climate change-related health hazards, 10 reached worrying new records. 

“The report represents a wakeup call that the world is severely lagging in its response to the climate crisis,” Dr. Robert Dubrow, founder and co-faculty director of the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health, wrote to the News.

Dr. Jodi Sherman, founding director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability, said that we are not on track to achieving half emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050, a target set by the Paris Agreement.

Sherman contributed to the “Health care sector emissions and harms” indicator.

While emissions from other sectors of the economy are falling globally, healthcare absolute emissions are rising — contributing to 4.6 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions and 4.6 million disability-adjusted life years lost. 

According to the World Health Organization, disability-adjusted life years are years of life lost “due to prevalent cases of the disease or health condition in a population.”

The paper pointed to data linking global warming to increased heat-related mortalities, heat stress, dehydration and loss of sleep. Extreme weather events led to more flooding, infectious disease spread, water contamination and loss of property.

Dubrow collaborated with Lingzhi Chu, a postdoctoral associate at the School of Public Health, on the indicator titled “Benefits and harms of air conditioning.”

“Air conditioning is an effective technology for reducing heat exposure, but it should also be noted that AC is energy intensive,” Chu wrote to the News. 

To ensure sustainability in healthcare, people need to not only consider air conditioning as an adaptation measure against heat, but also take into account the harms that come with the benefits.

The greenhouse gas emissions from AC usage contribute to global warming, perpetuating the cycle in a sort of positive feedback loop.

“Health systems should be leading the transformation to a sustainable society, but instead, we are a major contributor to climate disruption and pollution-related disease burden against the mission to do no harm,” Sherman told the News. 

According to the authors, the implications of our missed deadlines are alarming.

Dubrow called Donald Trump’s reelection a “major setback” for climate action, referring to his plan to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, among other things.

“Nevertheless, we have no choice but to persist,” Dubrow wrote to the News. “We need to counter mis/disinformation about climate change such that the climate crisis becomes a very high-priority issue for voters.”

In the absence of federal action, Dubrow said he is hopeful that city and state governments will take it upon themselves to take action. 

Globally, climate change also discriminates, according to Sherman. While all nations are affected, those “most vulnerable and impoverished,” who contributed the least to global warming, are disproportionately impacted. 

Despite climatic doom, there remains a shred of optimism, experts said.

Chu expressed concern about climate extremes but believes humanity will find suitable and effective adaptation measures, even if they are not “one-size-fits-all.”

Dubrow added, “I am hopeful about the tens of millions of people in the US and globally, especially youth, who grasp the urgency of the climate crisis and who will work even harder in the face of adversity.” 

Heat exposure led to a loss of 512 billion potential labor hours in 2023, according to the indicator “Health hazards, exposures and impacts.”