Birmingham researchers lead global efforts to track public and political engagement with climate change and health in Lancet Countdown’s flagship annual report.
Flooding is increasing as global temperatures rise, posing additional health risks. Credit: Pexels, Juan Moccagatta.
The number of governments engaging with the health impacts of climate change has more than halved in four years, while individuals are six times more engaged, according to a major new report shaped by University of Birmingham researchers.
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is the world's most comprehensive assessment of how climate change is affecting human health and how governments and societies are responding. Authors of this year's report – the tenth of its kind – are calling for climate change to be formally declared a global health emergency, as harms to health caused by climate change are growing faster than the world is responding.
Published annually in the medical journal The Lancet, the report brings together more than 100 global researchers from leading universities and United Nations agencies. It provides a comprehensive picture of how climate change is affecting health, where progress is being made and where greater action is needed.
The report draws on more than 50 scientific indicators, updated annually, to examine five interconnected areas: the health impacts of climate change; adaptation, planning and resilience; efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their health benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement.
There are also worrying signs of governments deprioritising efforts to transition to a healthy, net-zero future at a time when climate action and ambition need to be drastically increased.
University of Birmingham researchers played a leading role in producing the section on public and political engagement. Chaired by Niheer Dasandi, Professor of Global Politics and Sustainable Development, the working group included Professor Slava Jankin, Dr Fabio Battaglia and Dr Aditi Dutta, as well as researchers from institutions around the world.
Professor Niheer Dasandi said: "Climate change is already having profound consequences for people's health around the world. But understanding these impacts is only part of the challenge. We also need to know whether the growing evidence is translating into greater public awareness, political attention and meaningful action.”
The researchers found that there is continued growth in public interest in the topic of climate change and health. Analysis of Google searches shows that global interest in information about climate change and health has increased approximately sixfold since 2016, reaching its highest recorded level in 2025. Some of the highest levels of engagement are found in low- and middle-income countries and small island developing states, many of which face particularly severe climate-related health risks.
The report also shows growing media coverage of climate change and health around the world, as well as a fiftyfold increase in national climate legislation referencing health between 2000 and 2025, based on a new indicator produced by Dr Dutta.
However, as public interest increases, there are clear signs of backsliding by national governments and the corporate sector. In 2025, 37% of companies referred to the health dimensions of climate change in their UN Global Compact reports, marking a steep drop from 58% in 2023.
The indicator on government engagement, produced by Professors Dasandi and Jankin, tracks references to health and climate change in the United Nations General Debate (UNGD), a forum used by governments’ to discuss the issues that they consider most important in global politics. They also tracked engagement with health in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are climate action plans created by individual countries as part of the Paris Agreement.
The report reveals that the number of governments engaging with health and climate change at the UNGD has declined for the fourth consecutive year, from 66% in 2021 to 26% in 2025. Analysis of both the UNGD and the NDCs found that engagement in health-climate issues has been driven largely by countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Professor Dasandi explained: "Our research shows that over the past decade there has been significant progress in how key societal actors, including the public, media, and scientific community, engage with the health dimensions of climate change. However, we have also found stark global inequalities, with engagement highest in countries most vulnerable to health impacts of climate change but lacking sufficient resources to respond. There are also worrying signs of governments deprioritising efforts to transition to a healthy, net-zero future at a time when climate action and ambition need to be drastically increased.”
A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases even accelerating.
A decade after the Paris Agreement, the report's authors are calling for climate change to be formally declared a global health emergency, for a new World Health Organisation (WHO) instrument to enable a coordinated global response, and for governments to put health at the centre of every climate decision, from emissions targets to climate funding.
Professor Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown, based at University College London said: “A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases even accelerating.
“Real progress has been made in clean energy, health system readiness, and health-protective regulation, all of which are already delivering health benefits to local communities. However, progress has been too slow, too small, and isn't reaching those who need it most. That is why we are calling for climate change to be formally recognised as a global health emergency, with health placed at the centre of every climate decision."
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report provides important evidence for governments, international organisations, health professionals and researchers, helping to inform climate and health policies around the world.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact Rosie Finnegan, Communications Officer, University of Birmingham. Out-of-hours, please call +44 (0) 121 414 2772.
Professor of Global Politics and Sustainable Development
Niheer Dasandi is a Birmingham Fellow in Politics and Development. His research broadly looks at the politics of development and international political economy.
Research Fellow in Computational Social Science
Staff profile for Dr Aditi Dutta, Research Fellow in Computational Social Science based in the School of Government, College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham.
Chair in Data Science and Government
Slava Jankin specialises in computational approaches to governance and society, focusing on how AI can transform public institutions and address complex societal challenges.
