26 extreme weather events led to 3,700 deaths globally in 2024: Report
Climate change contributed to the deaths of at least 3,700 people and the displacement of millions in 26 extreme weather events that two climate attribution and research organisations studied in 2024.
These were a fraction of the 219 events that met the trigger criteria for climate change fuelled extreme weather.
“It’s 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,” said a World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central report released on Friday.
The report said human-caused climate change added an average of 41 days of dangerous heat in 2024. Globally, there were 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024 due to human-caused warming, the report said. These days represent the top 10% warmest temperatures from 1991-2020 worldwide.
“The result highlights how climate change is exposing millions more people to dangerous temperatures for longer periods of the year as fossil fuel emissions heat the climate. If the world does not rapidly transition away from oil, gas, and coal, the number of dangerous heat days will continue to increase each year and threaten public health, the scientists say,” the report said.
The heat fuelled heatwaves, droughts, fire weather, storms, and heavy rainfall and floods throughout the year.
Extreme rain in Kerala and surrounding areas was one of the 219 extreme weather events studied for the report.
The floods in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad were the deadliest ones studied with at least 2,000 people killed and millions displaced.
“If warming reaches 2 degree C, which could happen as early as the 2040s or 2050s, the regions could experience similar periods of heavy rainfall every year,” the report said, highlighting how climate change is making some events a “new normal”.
El Niño, the climate pattern associated with extreme heat waves and weak monsoons in India, influenced many extreme events at the beginning of 2024. The report said climate change played a bigger role than El Niño in fuelling these events, including the historic drought in the Amazon. This is consistent with the fact that, as the planet warms, the influence of climate change increasingly overrides other natural phenomena affecting the weather. Hot seas and warmer air fuelled more destructive storms, including Hurricane Helene and Typhoon Gaemi.
“Almost everywhere on Earth, daily temperatures hot enough to threaten human health have become more common because of climate change. In many countries, residents are exposed to additional weeks’ worth of heat reaching risk thresholds that would be virtually impossible without the influence of global warming,” said Climate Central scientist Daniel Gilford in a statement.
“We do have the knowledge and technology to move away from fossil fuels, towards renewable energies, lower demand, and halt deforestation. We need to implement these and not get distracted by technologies like carbon dioxide removal, they will not work without doing everything else first,” said WWA lead and Imperial College London senior climate science lecturer Friederike Otto in a statement.
“The solutions have been in front of us for years. In 2025, every country needs to step up efforts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy and prepare for extreme weather,” she said.