The COP31 in Antalya (Turkey) began with a warning about the growing impact of extreme weather events on health. The call coincided with the release of the latest report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which certifies that the global temperature increase in 2026 has been 1.47 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era, nearing the 1.5-degree ceiling set by the Paris Agreement.
"We have entered a new era of climate extremes," warned UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the summit, which brings together more than 190 countries, with the notable absence of the United States for the second consecutive year. "A super version of the natural phenomenon El Niño is colliding with a planet already overheated by human activity," Guterres added. "Climate records continue to fall, and the human cost is rising: those who bear the least responsibility are the ones who suffer first and the most severely."
Deaths from heatwaves have increased by 70% in the last two decades among those over 65. Vector-borne diseases (malaria, dengue, paludism...), once limited to tropical areas, are spreading to the Northern Hemisphere, as are diseases transmitted by water quality degradation during floods and droughts.
According to The Lancet Countdown, extreme weather events have exposed 127 million more people to moderate or severe food insecurity than in the last three decades. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 2030 and 2050, there could be an additional 250,000 deaths per year attributable to climate change due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.
Europe, with a total of 50,391 excess deaths attributed to heatwaves in 2026, is warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and Mediterranean countries recorded the deadliest figures with 380 deaths per million inhabitants.
"The climate crisis is a health crisis," warns Dr. Jeni Miller, executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, a consortium of 300 organizations worldwide.
"COP31 must be seen as a critical moment for governments to unite amid global turmoil to collaborate, accelerate, and drive tangible climate actions that protect the health and well-being of people," Miller said, before turning her gaze to political elites: "Global leaders must recognize that we are facing an existential polycrisis and must respond by establishing a firm course for the elimination of fossil fuels and a just transition."
The Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience is one of the 10 priorities set by Turkey's presidency. Australia is leading the negotiations, linked in this case to mitigation solutions in urban populations, as well as the impact of climate change on agriculture and food production.
The WMO report presented at the start of COP31 warns that 2026 will be one of the four hottest years on record to date, with a new record of ocean temperatures, which absorb up to 90% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gases, increasing the risk of extreme events such as heatwaves, cyclones, and floods.
The World Meteorological Organization recalls how the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 356 particles per million (ppm) in 1992, when the Rio summit was held. The latest measurement in 2025 was estimated at 426 ppm. CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by 53% since the pre-industrial era. COP31 in Antalya will also pay special attention to the role of methane emissions in global warming, which are up to 80 times more potent than CO2, and their direct link to waste.