More Than 1 Death Every 2 minutes In India Due To Fossil Fuel Use: Study

The report put together by 99 experts from over 50 organisations, including the World Health Organisation and the World Meteorological Organisation, wants global leaders to pivot the spend to a health-centric approach.

As the Covid pandemic eases, the pincer grip of an economic crisis and global warming is hurting and killing more and more people. The coal, oil and gas sector has bounced back with higher demand and profits, largely thanks to the Ukraine war-triggered energy crisis.

But a new report, the "Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change", has warned governments against their fossil fuel obsession and has urged them to strengthen health programmes. The continuing subsidies and priority given to fossil fuels, it says, is leading to an increased risk of food insecurity, infectious disease transmission, heat-related disease, energy poverty, and deaths from exposure to air pollution.

In India, the report estimates over 330,000 people died in 2020 of exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion. That's 1.2 deaths every two minutes. China accounted for about 380,000 deaths, while in Europe this was 117,000. In the US, approximately 32,000 deaths were linked to particulate matter pollution, over a third of these directly related to fossil fuels.

The report's message is urgent and crystal clear.