A global expansion of six climate and health policies could avert 1.6 million deaths a year, with the World Health Organization modeling additional economic and fiscal gains.
The measures span fuel pricing, heat-health warning systems and climate-resilient drinking-water services. They also include basic sanitation, hygiene and handwashing facilities, and cleaner household fuels and cooking and heating technologies.
WHO’s estimates assign the largest gains to policies that price fossil fuels more efficiently. The agency’s approach includes removing subsidies it considers inefficient and applying appropriate fuel taxes. Those policies could prevent 1.2 million deaths each year and generate $3 trillion in annual economic welfare benefits and $5.4 trillion in fiscal benefits, WHO said.
For five of the interventions, the modeled benefit-to-cost ratio was 24 to 1. Heat-health warning systems were among the most cost-beneficial measures assessed, with an estimated $835 in benefits per dollar invested, WHO said.
The projected gains may be larger in low- and middle-income countries, where WHO says the measures could help narrow health and economic inequalities.
An earlier WHO review of national climate plans found health references in plans from 91% of the 140 Parties represented. But only 11% of those Parties included measures or targets to cut emissions from the health sector, while 23% estimated resources for health-related climate action.
The new projections model expanded coverage from 2024 to 2075. WHO cautioned that estimates reaching decades into the future are uncertain and rely on evidence with limitations.
The report was released Nov. 4 ahead of COP31, where governments are expected to present climate commitments. WHO urged governments, development partners and financing institutions to fund the measures.
