Report of the
Lancet Countdown
The latest report from the Lancet Countdown Asia tracks progress on health and climate change in China.
This year, the report measures climate-related health burdens per person, per worker and per city, showing how climate change is increasingly experienced in people’s daily lives.
The seventh iteration of the China report, it monitors progress across 33 indicators in five domains. This report was compiled with the contribution of 80 experts from 26 institutions both within and outside of China.
Explore key findings of this year’s report
The 2026 China report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: safeguarding individual health through accelerated climate action
HEALTH HAZARDS, EXPOSURES, AND IMPACTS
A changing climate has profound implications for human health, with more frequent heat waves and extreme weather events, changing patterns of infectious disease transmission, deterioration of food and water resources, impacts on socioeconomic conditions, and the exacerbation of existing health challenges around the world. Indicators in this section track the multiple ways in which climate change threatens human health and wellbeing.
1.1.1 Heatwave Related Mortality
In 2025, heatwave-related deaths in China reached 19338, 1.7 times the annual mean of the 1986–2005 baseline. The national rate averaged 1.4 deaths per 100,000 people, and 202 cities exceeded 1 death per 100,000.
1.1.2 Change in labour capacity
Heat exposure caused an average loss of 47.7 potential work hours per worker in 2025 (39.6 billion hours nationally, equivalent to 13.5 million full-time jobs). Outdoor workers lost 104.4 hours, 7.3 times more than indoor workers.
1.2.1 Wildfires
Wildfire exposure reached 8.2 days per person in 2025, 116.8% higher than the 2001–2005 baseline—faster than the 106.7% increase in total exposure.
ADAPTATION, PLANNING, AND RESILIENCE FOR HEALTH
With climate change increasingly threatening the health and wellbeing of populations in every country, actions to build resilience and adapt to climate change are urgently needed. This section tracks how communities, health systems, and governments are understanding the health risks of climate change, the strategies and resources they are deploying, and how adaptation and resilience measures are being implemented globally.
2.1.2 City-level climate change risk assessments
By January 2026, 50.3% of cities had completed, were conducting, or planned to undertake a city-level climate change risk assessment.
2.2.3 Urban greenspace
In 2025, the population-weighted median NDVI declined in about 71% of cities, associated with 11,145 excess deaths, while increases in peak greenness were estimated to avert 66,983 deaths.
2.4 Health risk early warning service
In 2025, China issued its first national heat-health risk early warning. Heat-health warning coverage expanded to 20 provinces and 141 cities, and the population reached grew by 30.5% to 767.4 million people.
MITIGATION ACTIONS AND HEALTH CO-BENEFITS
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential to limit the health threats of climate change. Simultaneously, many of the interventions required to mitigate and adapt bring enormous benefits for human health and wellbeing in the form of cleaner air, healthier diets, and more liveable cities. Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century. Indicators in this section track the world’s efforts to mitigate climate change, and the effective and the health benefits of this response.
3.1: Energy system and health
In 2025, carbon intensity fell by about 5.6%, and total carbon emissions declined by 0.8% while GDP grew by 5.1%. Thermal power generation fell by 0.7%, the first annual reduction in a decade, although coal still accounted for 51.4% of total energy consumption.
3.3: Air pollution, transport and energy
About 185,374 premature deaths were avoided between 2015 and 2023 because of improvements in air quality. Under the tightened PM2.5 benchmark of 25 µg/m³, the number of attaining cities fell from 114 in 2024 to 109 in 2025.
3.4: Carbon emissions from healthcare
In 2024, the carbon footprint of China’s health-care sector was 304.50 Mt CO₂e, or 216.2 kg per person. Rising per-capita health expenditure remained the main driver of emissions growth, while improvements in carbon efficiency consistently reduced emissions.
ECONOMICS AND FINANCE
The health impacts of climate change have profound economic implications. This section tracks the economic costs of the health impacts of climate change and its drivers, as well as the extent to which the world’s economy and financial systems are enabling the transition to a health-promoting, zero-carbon economy.
4.1.2 Economic costs of heat-related labour productivity loss
In 2025, the national economic cost of heat-related labour productivity loss reached US$339.6 billion (1.74% of GDP), equivalent to US$242.1 per person, or 4.0% of average disposable income.
4.1.4 Economic losses due to climate-related extreme events
Economic losses from climate-related extreme events reached US$90.1 billion in 2024 (0.49% of GDP), 23.1% higher than in 2023; per-capita losses rose from US$52.3 to US$64.2.
4.2.1 Investment in new coal and low-carbon energy and energy efficiency
In 2025, new coal power capacity rose by 63.8% (from 57.7 GW to 94.5 GW), while investment in low-carbon energy fell by 17.9% to US$96.2 billion; the investment ratio between low-carbon energy and coal declined from 6.4:1 to 3.6:1.
4.2.4 Production-based and Consumption-based attribution of CO2 and PM2.5 emissions
In 2017, 24.3% of all of China’s CO2 emissions were attributed to the net trade of goods and services between China’s provinces, and 15.0% were from the net production of goods and services in China exported to other countries.
PUBLIC AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
Public and political engagement underpins the foundations of the world’s collective response to climate change, with reductions in global emissions at the speed required by the Paris Agreement depending on engagement from all sectors of society. This working group tracks key actors’ engagement with the links between health and climate change, including in the media, national governments, the corporate sector, and the broader public. The indicators in this section track the links between health and climate change in the media, national governments, the corporate sector, and the broader public.
5.1.1 Coverage of health and climate change on social media
From 2010 to 2025, climate change-related posts rose from 99 to 4,171 a year, but the share of health-related posts within them fell from 11% to 4%.
5.2 Individual engagement in health and climate change
Climate change-related search queries fell by a further 14.9% in 2025, but the proportion of health–climate co-queries relative to climate change queries increased 4.9 times compared with 2024.
5.4 Government engagement in health and climate change
In 2025, five national administrations published 2,710 climate-related policy documents (up 10.9%), of which 550 (20.3%) addressed climate and health—an 18.5% increase from 2024.
Dr. Shaohui Zhang, the Working Group 3 Lead
“Tackling climate change and air pollution is not only about reducing emissions; it is also about protecting human health and improving people’s quality of life. Scientific evidence and integrated modelling can help us understand the connections between climate, energy, air pollution and health, and identify policy pathways that deliver multiple benefits. Turning this knowledge into effective action is essential for a healthier and more sustainable future.”
Dr Zhenyu Zhang, Author, Working Group 1
“Our research should help build resilient health systems that prepare for climate risks and keep care available during climate emergencies. What matters is how well we protect people, especially those most vulnerable.”
Dr Junyi Hua, Deputy Lead, Working Group 2
“Understanding climate risks is only the first step. What matters most is translating scientific evidence into effective and equitable adaptation actions that protect vulnerable populations and build a healthier, more climate-resilient future.”