Warning that health is at the mercy of fossil fuels, heat-related deaths in India increased by 55 per cent from 2000-2004 to 2017-2021, the 2022 Lancet countdown report said on Wednesday.
Improving air quality will help prevent deaths. In 2020, more than 330,000 people died India Due to exposure to particles from the combustion of fossil fuels.
New findings presented in the Lancet Countdown’s seventh annual global report on health and climate change, for the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt, show that governments and companies continue to pursue strategies that support health and today. Survival of all living beings and generations to come.
The report said that in India, 45 percent of urban centers are classified as medium green or above.
Urban redesign, which puts health first, can provide increased green space that reduces urban heat, improves air quality, and benefits physical and mental health.
However, Indian media coverage on health and climate change increased by 27 percent between 2020 and 2021.
The report said that climate change is exacerbating the health effects of several crises in India. The duration of the maize growth season decreased by two percent compared to the 1981-2010 baseline, while rice and winter wheat decreased by one percent each.
By 2012–2021, infants under one year of age experienced an average of 72 million more person-days of heatwave per year, compared to 1985–2005. For the same period, adults over 65 experienced 301 million more person-days. This means that, on average, by 2012–2021, each infant experienced an additional 0.9 heatwave days per year, while adults over 65 experienced an additional 3.7 per person compared to 1986–2021.
In 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labor hours due to heat exposure, with a loss of income equivalent to about 5.4 percent of the national GDP.
From 1951-1960 to 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by Aedes aegypti increased by 1.69 percent, reaching 5.6 months each year.
Governments and companies continue to prioritize fossil fuels to the detriment of people’s health. In 2019, India had a net negative carbon price, indicating that the government was effectively subsidizing fossil fuels.
India allocated a net $34 billion for it in 2019 alone, which was equivalent to 37.5 percent of the country’s national health spending that year.
Biomass accounted for 61 percent of household energy in 2019, while fossil fuels accounted for another 20 percent. With this high reliance on dirty fuel, the average household concentration of particulate matter exceeded the WHO recommendation by 27 times nationally and 35 times in rural households.
Globally, governments and companies are increasingly prioritizing fossil fuels over clean energy solutions to the detriment of health.
Most of the countries analyzed still collectively allocate hundreds of billions of US dollars to subsidize fossil fuels – often an amount comparable to or even greater than the amount set out in their total health budgets.
Current strategies of the fossil fuel giants threaten a vibrant future and will lead to emissions exceeding international climate targets for mitigating global warming.
As countries prepare responses to these crises, a renewed reliance on fossil fuels could seal a deadly hot future. However, a health-focused response can still provide a thriving future if immediate action is taken.
Accelerating the transition to clean energy and energy efficiency will help prevent further increases in climate change-related death and disease through improved energy access and security, cleaner air, healthier diets and lifestyles, and more livable cities. This will help in providing faster recovery, said the report. ,
“Our report for this year shows that we are at a turning point. We see how climate change is driving serious health impacts around the world, while persistent global fossil fuel dependence adds to these health harms amid many global crises, leaving families vulnerable to volatile fossil fuel markets, energy poverty. and is exposed to dangerous levels of air. Pollution,” says Marina Romanello, executive director of The Lancet Countdown at University College London.
The Seventh Lancet Countdown Report represents the work of 99 experts from 51 institutions, including World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and it is led by University College London.
It publishes ahead of COP27, offering 43 indicators that include new and improved metrics that monitor the impact of extreme temperatures on food insecurity, household air pollution and the fossil fuel industry’s alignment with a healthier future.
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