The 2026 Lancet Countdown on health and climate change finds rising heat-related mortality, growing pressure on food and water systems, and economic losses from heat.
The 2026 Lancet Countdown on health and climate change finds rising heat-related mortality, growing pressure on food and water systems, and economic losses from heat. Led by University College London in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the report brings together 146 researchers from more than 100 institutions worldwide. Scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) led the AI-assisted analysis of global climate-and-health research.
The 2026 Lancet Countdown finds that climate-related health risks have increased and accelerated across many indicators since the Paris Agreement was adopted ten years ago. The past 11 years have been the hottest on record, with heat, drought and water extremes increasingly threatening food security, livelihoods and lives. In 2025, extreme drought affected more than half of the world’s land for at least a month.
A new satellite analysis shows growing extremes in water storage. Since 2003, 43 percent of global land has become drier over the long term, while 37 percent has become wetter. These changes affect more than 80 percent of the world’s land, threatening crops, food supplies and sanitation. Very heavy rainfall has also become more common, affecting almost 17.2 percent of global land annually in 2016-2025, up from 14.8 percent in the previous decade. This increases the risk of floods, landslides and waterborne diseases.
Read More: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
