WHO Estimates Six Climate and Health Actions Could Prevent 1.6 Million Deaths a Year and Deliver 9.3 Trillion Dollars in Benefits
The World Health Organization on November 4, 2026, in Geneva released new estimates ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye: scaling up proven climate and health actions globally could prevent about 1.6 million deaths each year, while generating an estimated 3.9 trillion US dollars in economic welfare benefits and a further 5.4 trillion dollars in fiscal benefits.
The actions assessed include heat-health warning systems, climate-resilient drinking-water and sanitation services, basic hygiene and handwashing facilities, cleaner household energy, and more effective fossil-fuel pricing policies. WHO says the climate crisis is fuelling outbreaks, driving higher rates of heart and lung disease, cancer and asthma, and making healthy diets less affordable.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said climate action is not a cost but an investment in healthier people, a healthier planet and healthier economies, and that WHO will argue at COP31 that the climate crisis is a health crisis. (Source: World Health Organization)
Source: World Health Organization
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：世界气象组织总部（日内瓦）。照片：Torbjorn Toby Jorgensen，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / WMO headquarters in Geneva. Photo by Torbjorn Toby Jorgensen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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