Climate change ‘killing far more people than we record’, experts warn

Official death records are not reflecting the actual amount of deaths caused by the climate crisis, according to a new study.

A team of Australian health experts claim there is a “substantial under-reporting of heat-related mortality”.

Excessive heat is said to be the most dominant risk posed by climate change in Australia.

However, experts from The Australian National University claim that deaths attributed to heat are “at least 50 times more” than what is stated on official death certificates.

Dr. Arnagretta Hunter, from the ANU Medical School, said: “Climate change is a killer, but we don’t acknowledge it on death certificates.

“There is second component on a death certificate which allows for pre-existing conditions and other factors.

“If you have an asthma attack and die during heavy smoke exposure from bushfires, the death certificate should include that information.”

The researchers want death certification to be modernized so it can reflect large-scale environmental events.

Over the past 11 years, official figures are said to show 340 deaths in Australia were attributed to excessive heat.

However, statistical analysis has found that the real figure could be as high as 36,765 deaths.

Dr. Hunter said: “We know the summer bushfires were a consequence of extraordinary heat and drought and people who died during the bushfires were not just those fighting fires – many Australians had early deaths due to smoke exposure.”

The study authors argue that climate change deaths need to be recorded properly so that the true scale of the crisis can be understood.

They say this is imperative for many countries all over the world.

This year has already seen raging wildfires in Australia, which were said to be fuelled by high temperatures.

Last year also saw the devastating impact of the fires along with those in areas like California and even the Arctic.

The hottest June ever recorded on Earth saw huge wildfires spreading from Greenland to Siberia to Alaska.

Hot, dry weather combined with drought and strong winds create the perfect conditions for fire to spread quickly.

The Australian bushfires resulted in the loss of over half a billion animals.

This research was published in The Lancet Planetary Health.