CLIMATE CHANGE DISPLACED millions of people in 2024 and contributed to the deaths of thousands, according to scientists researching extreme weather.
This year saw extreme weather events reach “dangerous new heights” as record-breaking temperatures brought heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods.
The world urgently needs to to stop relying on harmful fossil fuels and improve early warning systems to try to limit the impact of disasters, said World Weather Attribution, an organisation that studies specific extreme weather events and whether they were more likely or more intense due to climate change.
The WWA has released an end-of-year report reviewing the most significant events and highlights from its 2024 studies and advising what resolutions the world should make in 2025 to help stem the crisis and protect people from the effects of climate change.
In 26 weather events that the WWA studied in 2024, climate change contributed to the deaths of at least 3,700 people and the displacement of millions.
These were just a “small fraction” of a total 219 events of significantly impactful weather events that it identified overall, meaning it is “likely the total number of people killed in extreme weather events intensified by climate change this year is in the tens, or hundreds of thousands”, the WWA said.
“This exceptional year of extreme weather shows how dangerous life has already become with 1.3°C of human-induced warming and highlights the urgency of moving away from planet-heating fossil fuels as quickly as possible,” it said.
On average globally, climate change added 41 additional days of dangerous heat in 2024 that threatened people’s health.
Small islands and developing states, which are particularly vulnerable to climate change, experienced the highest number of dangerous heat days.
Heavy downpours – caused by increased moisture held by a warmer atmosphere – brought devastation to numerous places, from Kathmandu, to Dubai, to Rio Grande do Sul, to the Southern Appalachians.
Of 16 floods in 2024 that WWA studied, 15 were driven by climate change-amplified rainfall.
It said that shortcomings in early warning systems and evacuation plans likely contributed to huge death tolls. In particular, floods in Sudan and Brazil highlighted the need to maintain and upgrade flood defences.
In Brazil, the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal Wetland were hit by severe droughts and wildfires that caused major biodiversity loss.
Hot seas and warmer air fuelled more destructive storms, including Hurricane Helene in the southeast US and Typhoon Gaemi in the Philippines.
The WWA said that a faster shift away from fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal is crucial to curbing climate change.
“Extremes will continue to worsen with every fraction of a degree of fossil fuel warming,” it said. “A rapid move to renewable energy will help make the world a safer, healthier, wealthier and more stable place.”
Countries also need to improve their early warning systems to minimise fatalities due to extreme weather events.
Warnings need to be targeted, given multiple days in advance of a dangerous weather event, and include clear instructions advising people about what they need to do, the WWA outlined.
Additionally, the WWA called for real-time reporting of heat deaths.
“Heatwaves are the deadliest type of extreme weather. However, the dangers of high temperatures are underappreciated and underreported,” it said.
“In April, a hospital in Mali reported a surge in excess deaths as temperatures climbed to nearly 50°C. Reported by local media, the announcement was a rare example of health professionals raising the alarm about the dangers of extreme heat in real-time.
“Health systems worldwide are stretched, but informing local journalists when emergency departments are overwhelmed is a simple way to alert the public that extreme heat can be deadly.”
Finally, developing countries need to be provided with finance to help them cope with the impacts of extreme weather.
“Developing countries are responsible for a small amount of historic carbon emissions, but as our research has highlighted this year, are being hit the hardest by extreme weather,” the WWA said.
“Back-to-back disasters, like the Philippines typhoons, or devastating floods that followed a multi-year drought in East Africa, are cancelling out developmental gains and forcing governments to reach deeper and deeper into their pockets to respond and recover from extreme weather.
“Ensuring developing countries have the means to invest in adaptation will protect lives and livelihoods, and create a stabler and more equitable world.”
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