Experts urge 'global health emergency' as climate harms accelerate

As heat deaths, drought and food insecurity accelerate worldwide, nearly 150 researchers from more than 30 countries are calling for climate change to be declared a "global health emergency." The health and economic toll of planetary heating has risen sharply in the decade since countries signed the Paris climate accord — a landmark deal to stop climate change that was hailed by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the time as "the most important public health agreement of the century." Yet, climate change was responsible for more than half a million heat deaths in 2023 alone and nearly 3 million since 2016.