The climate crisis is rapidly becoming a global public health emergency, threatening millions through extreme heat, air pollution, food insecurity and increasingly destructive weather events, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell warned as COP31 opened in Türkiye.
Describing the crisis as a health emergency of “pandemic proportions”, Stiell said global warming was overwhelming healthcare systems, damaging infrastructure and disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities.
“The world is getting dangerously hot,” he said at a press conference in Antalya on Monday, citing hundreds of millions exposed to extreme heat across southern Asia and an estimated 50,000 heatwave-related deaths in Europe during the northern summer.
His warning came as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its State of the Climate Update 2026, which said the past 12 years had been the warmest on record. Global temperatures from January to September this year averaged around 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned that a powerful El Niño could push temperatures higher, potentially making 2027 another record-breaking year. Ocean heat content has remained at record levels for the 10th consecutive year, while rising sea levels are increasing risks for an estimated 900 million people living in low-lying coastal areas.
Climate impacts are already being felt through heatwaves, floods, droughts and increasingly intense storms. Nearly 52% of the world's land experienced extreme drought for at least one month in 2025, threatening farmers, outdoor workers and food security.
Stiell also highlighted the growing health risks for pregnant women, newborns and mothers, while Dr Alan Dangour, director of climate and health at the Wellcome Trust, said fossil fuel pollution and human-induced climate change were estimated to cause more than three million deaths annually through air pollution and extreme heat.
Children, older people, pregnant women and outdoor workers remain particularly vulnerable.
Experts said cleaner energy, electrification, heat early-warning systems and stronger healthcare infrastructure could help reduce the risks. Dangour said cleaner air was already preventing more than 300,000 deaths annually in at least 77 countries where fossil fuel-related air pollution had declined over the past decade.
Stiell urged governments to speed up the transition to clean electricity, warning that continued dependence on fossil fuels would impose growing economic and health costs.
“At this COP, nations face a choice: electric or shock,” he said, calling for a shift towards clean energy.
The issue is particularly urgent for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where extreme heat, air pollution and climate-related disasters place additional pressure on communities and healthcare services. Experts stressed the need for climate-resilient health systems, disease surveillance, heat protection and reliable early-warning mechanisms.
Financing is also emerging as a key issue at COP31. Stiell said the Climate and Health Funders Coalition, established at COP30 in Belém, had awarded more than $200 million for climate and health initiatives. The coalition initially committed $300 million and attracted a further $150 million in funding commitments, Dangour said.
Saulo said the number of countries reporting multi-hazard early-warning systems had risen from 56 in 2015 to 136 in 2025, but stressed that such systems required reliable climate data and sustained investment.
COP31 is expected to build on health-related commitments made at COP30, with Türkiye and Australia prioritising resilient health systems. As negotiations continue, experts are urging governments to put public health at the centre of climate policies rather than treating it as a secondary consequence of global warming.
