Global health injustice from climate change driven by consumption
Abstract
Background: Climate change imposes unequal health burdens globally, harming vulnerable nations least responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A quantitative framework attributing this health damage directly to specific countries’ consumption patterns has been missing. This study quantifies the externalized human health costs of national consumption.
Methods: We developed a global methodological framework integrating climate impact models, Global Burden of Disease data, and multi-regional input-output (MRIO) modelling and life cycle impact assessment methods. We established spatially differentiated damage factors for 163 countries and regions, capturing the health burden of direct heat and cold exposure per degree of global warming. These were combined with Absolute Global Temperature Change Potentials for the seven major Kyoto Protocol GHGs to translate consumption-based emissions into disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), quantifying both mortality and morbidity.
Results: Results reveal profound inequities in climate-related harm, with high-income regions driving the burden. Average per-capita consumption in North America imposes a health burden equivalent to 34 days of healthy life lost per person annually across the global population, while causing negligible net harm domestically. Conversely, Sub-Saharan Africa endures 25 days of healthy life lost per person annually despite minimal emissions. South Asia also emerges as a heavily impacted net sufferer. Globally, net health damage exceeds 24 million DALYs per degree of sustained warming, concentrated in low- and medium-income regions.
Conclusions: We introduce a quantitative Health Injustice Index identifying net inducers and sufferers of climate health damage. By translating territorial emission metrics into the tangible metric of lost healthy life years, this framework provides a powerful, health-centric evidence base for climate accountability, supporting equitable climate policies globally.
Key messages: • High-income consumption drives climate health injustice. Average North American consumption costs the globe 34 days of healthy life annually, devastating low-emitting, vulnerable nations.
• Our quantitative Health Injustice Index translates abstract emissions into tangible lost healthy life years. This framework provides a powerful, health-centric tool for climate accountability.
Related
- Effects of climate change on menstrual health and hygiene: A global mixed-methods systematic review
- Impacts of long-term climate change on human health: a global scoping review of quantitative research
- Global trends in the burden of malaria: mapping the prevalence, incidence and mortality of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax in the era of climate change and emerging drug resistance.
- Awareness of Climate Change and Its Impact on Reproductive Health
- Editorial: Integrating climate change into health education and promotion
BibTeX
@article{rupcic2026global,
title = {{Global health injustice from climate change driven by consumption}},
author = {L Rupcic and D Yoo and T Rebelo and A Levasseur and C Alexandre and A Laurent and O Jolliet},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1155},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1155},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Global health injustice from climate change driven by consumption
AU - L Rupcic
AU - D Yoo
AU - T Rebelo
AU - A Levasseur
AU - C Alexandre
AU - A Laurent
AU - O Jolliet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1155
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1155
AB - Background: Climate change imposes unequal health burdens globally, harming vulnerable nations least responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A quantitative framework attributing this health damage directly to specific countries’ consumption patterns has been missing. This study quantifies the externalized human health costs of national consumption. Methods: We developed a global methodological framework integrating climate impact models, Global Burden of Disease data, and multi-regional input-output (MRIO) modelling and life cycle impact assessment methods. We established spatially differentiated damage factors for 163 countries and regions, capturing the health burden of direct heat and cold exposure per degree of global warming. These were combined with Absolute Global Temperature Change Potentials for the seven major Kyoto Protocol GHGs to translate consumption-based emissions into disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), quantifying both mortality and morbidity. Results: Results reveal profound inequities in climate-related harm, with high-income regions driving the burden. Average per-capita consumption in North America imposes a health burden equivalent to 34 days of healthy life lost per person annually across the global population, while causing negligible net harm domestically. Conversely, Sub-Saharan Africa endures 25 days of healthy life lost per person annually despite minimal emissions. South Asia also emerges as a heavily impacted net sufferer. Globally, net health damage exceeds 24 million DALYs per degree of sustained warming, concentrated in low- and medium-income regions. Conclusions: We introduce a quantitative Health Injustice Index identifying net inducers and sufferers of climate health damage. By translating territorial emission metrics into the tangible metric of lost healthy life years, this framework provides a powerful, health-centric evidence base for climate accountability, supporting equitable climate policies globally. Key messages: • High-income consumption drives climate health injustice. Average North American consumption costs the globe 34 days of healthy life annually, devastating low-emitting, vulnerable nations. • Our quantitative Health Injustice Index translates abstract emissions into tangible lost healthy life years. This framework provides a powerful, health-centric tool for climate accountability.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -