New Delhi: A total of 16 lakh deaths in India in 2021 were due to air pollution, with the use of fossil fuels, such as coal and liquid gas, contributing to 38 percent of these fatalities, says the 2024 report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change released Tuesday.
Moreover, each infant and adult over 65 in India was exposed to an average of 7.7 and 8.4 heatwave days per year, respectively, in the 2014-2023 period—a 47 percent and 58 percent increase, respectively, compared to 1990-1999—the report highlights.
The report also reveals that in 2023, people in India were exposed to a moderate/higher risk of heat stress, that is, when the body’s ability to regulate its temperature fails, for 2,400 hours/year or 100 days/year on average during light outdoor activities, such as walking.
The report shows 181 billion potential labour hours were lost in 2023 due to heat exposure, an increase of 50 percent from the annual average in 1990-1999. This reveals a potential income loss of $141 billion from labour capacity reduction due to heat last year.
The new global findings in the 8th annual indicator report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change suggest that people in every country face record-breaking threats to health and survival from rapidly changing climate, with 10 of 15 indicators tracking health threats reaching concerning new records.
Globally, in 2023, people were, on average, exposed to an unprecedented 50 more days of health-threatening temperatures than expected without climate change.
Extreme drought affected 48 percent of the global land area—the second-highest level recorded—and a higher frequency of heatwaves and droughts was associated with 151 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity than annually between 1981 and 2010.
The report, funded by Wellcome and developed in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), represents the work of 122 leading experts from 57 academic institutions and UN agencies globally, including the WHO and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
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Heat and health
The latest report underlined that the trends in heat and health are particularly concerning among populations experiencing increases in their exposure to high temperatures, undermining livelihoods and threatening people’s health and well-being.
Suitability for transmission of many infectious diseases, including vector-borne, food-borne, and water-borne diseases, is influenced by shifts in temperature and precipitation, associated with climate change.
For instance, the transmission potential (R0 or an indicator of the contagiousness or transmissibility of infectious and parasitic diseases) for dengue, transmitted by Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, has increased by 85 percent from 1951-1960 to 2014-2023, with the average R0 for 2014-2023 above one, at 1.6.
In the case of Aedes Aegypti—another mosquito responsible for transmitting dengue—the R0 also remains high, at 2.3, the report notes.
From 2014 to 2023, the length of coastline with conditions suitable for the transmission of Vibrio pathogens, responsible for spreading diseases, such as cholera, was 23 percent greater than in 1990-1999.
Also, in these last 10 years, the average annual population, living within 100 kilometres of coastal waters, with conditions suitable for Vibrio transmission, surpassed 210 million.
The new report says that 2023 was the hottest on record, with persistent droughts, deadly heatwaves, devastating forest fires, storms and floods, and disastrous impacts on health, lives, and livelihoods worldwide.
Heat-related deaths continue to increase rapidly and will likely exceed cold-related deaths in a high-warming scenario. Globally, in 2023, heat-related deaths in those over age 65 increased by a record-breaking 167 percent over such deaths in the 1990s—substantially higher than the 65 percent increase expected had temperatures not changed.
“This compounds existing inequities, with the number of health-threatening heat days added by climate change higher in countries with a low human development index—a measure of education, income, and life expectancy,” it says.
Health impacts of air pollution
The continued use of fossil fuels and biomass leads to high levels of air pollution, which increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, diabetes, neurological disorders, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and leads to a high burden of disease and mortality, the report underlines.
The figures show that renewable energy use in India has grown since 2000. Renewable energy, in 2022, supplied a record 11 percent of the country’s electricity.
While this growth marks progress in the right direction, 71 percent of India’s electricity still comes from coal. So, the report emphasises the need for a faster transition away from harmful fuels to clean energies.
In 2022, India contributed 15.8 percent of the world’s consumption-based PM2.5 emissions—pollution particles that are less than 2.5 micrometres and can directly enter the lungs. A high level of PM2.5 emissions is a key indicator of poor air quality.
The report also underlined that India contributed 16.9 percent of the world’s production-based PM2.5 emissions. Overall, India was the world’s second-highest emitter of PM2.5 based on both consumption- and production-based accounting.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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