Climate change is no longer a future risk for Malaysia. It is already driving preventable deaths, economic losses and growing pressure on the health system, according to the Lancet Countdown 2025 Report on Health and Climate Change, launched in Malaysia today.
According to the Business Today, the report shows that in 2022 alone, more than 22,500 deaths in Malaysia were attributable to anthropogenic air pollution, with 61% linked to fossil fuel use. The economic cost of these premature deaths reached US$21 billion, equivalent to 5% of Malaysia’s gross domestic product, underscoring the direct link between climate inaction, public health harm and economic loss.
Globally, the health impacts of climate change are accelerating. Heat-related deaths now average 546,000 each year, while 84% of heatwave days experienced between 2020 and 2024 would not have occurred without climate change. Rising temperatures and extreme weather have also pushed 123.7 million additional people into moderate to severe food insecurity, and air pollution from fossil fuels and household energy caused an estimated 4.8 million deaths worldwide in 2022.
Jamaliah Jamaluddin, Selangor’s Executive Councillor for Public Health, Environmental Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Green Technology, emphasised that climate change is already posing direct and measurable risks to health, livelihoods and development in Malaysia.
