Politico’s ‘Climate-Related Deaths’ Claim Collapses Under Real-World Data
Contrary to Politico’s fatuous reporting, climate- and weather-related deaths are falling, not rising.
by Anthony Watts and H. Sterling Burnett June 19, 2025, 2:43 PM
In an article in Politico, titled “EU has no plan for rising climate-related deaths, scientists warn,” writer Rory O’Neill warns that “Europe is increasingly grappling with illness and deaths from extreme weather and the arrival of tropical diseases but it has no plan to prevent and cope with rising climate-related health problems.” [emphasis, links added]
This is false.
Evidence from multiple sources suggests that climate and temperature-related deaths globally — and in Europe — are in long-term decline, rather than increasing.
O’Neill continues:
Scientists fear [that mosquito-borne diseases—dengue and chikungunya—once confined to tropical regions,] could become endemic in Europe due to the northward spread of tiger mosquitoes, which have made it as far as Brussels and 20 other towns in Belgium.
Meanwhile, heat-related deaths are projected to increase threefold by the end of the century, while deaths caused by extreme events, including floods and wildfires, are rising.
Perhaps the most glaring lie Politico tells is that deaths from extreme weather events are rising. The truth is just the opposite: climate-related deaths worldwide have declined by more than 98% since the 1920s and are approaching zero. (see Figure 1, below)
https://climatechangedispatch.com/politico-climate-deaths-claim-collapses/
