Canada requires urgent national action to address climate and health risks: Lancet report
Press Release
October 29, 2025
The latest report on Canada in the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change says the health system needs sustainable funding, emergency preparedness plans and workforce training to prevent climate-related harms and provide lifesaving care during extreme weather events.
Recent indicators show that between 2020-2024 heatwave exposure among vulnerable groups has skyrocketed: exposure among older adults increased by 284% and among infants by 113% compared with 1986–2005. In addition, more than half (56%) of the country’s land area experienced at least one month of extreme drought every year, increasing wildfire risk and smoke exposure that strained urgent and primary care services.
“We can only anticipate that these pressures will worsen, and we need to be taking steps now to help us better prepare for what lies ahead.” — Dr. Margot Burnell, CMA president
Funding and fully implementing the National Adaptation Strategy to strengthen health system resilience
Authors of The Lancet Countdown: 2025 Climate and Health Policy Priorities for Canada Opens in a new window, supported by the CMA, the Canadian Public Health Association and the Canadian Nurses Association, say that despite increasing climate crises, health adaptation in Canada remains underdeveloped.
Building on the National Adaptation Strategy Opens in a new window — a blueprint for climate-resilient health systems and communities — they recommend that the federal government provide long-term, dedicated funding to strengthen health capacity across provinces, territories and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
The funding must integrate climate risk into preparedness plans, embed equity-based adaptation and mitigation and upgrade health infrastructure. The report also recommends finalizing federal-provincial-territorial action plans with transparent progress tracking and establishing a national education centre for planetary health where health professionals can learn to address the health threats caused by climate change.
The policy brief also recommends:
Creating climate-resilient and low-carbon affordable housing
The Affordable Housing Fund offers an opportunity to require all federally supported new builds and retrofits to meet climate-resilient, low-carbon standards. To maximize health benefits, housing should meet performance-based standards for thermal safety, including passive cooling and electric heat pumps, smoke-resistant ventilation with filtration, flood and fire resilience and energy efficiency.
Implementing and enforcing stronger federal methane regulations
Methane is a highly potent climate pollutant, with over 80 times the global heating potential of CO₂ over 20 years. Reducing methane can improve air quality and deliver rapid health and climate benefits, including fewer cases of asthma, respiratory illness, and premature mortality. Canada must strengthen and enforce federal methane regulations, particularly in the oil and gas sector — the country’s largest source of methane — through strict emission limits, high-frequency leak detection and repair, continuous monitoring of super-emitters, standardized public reporting and penalties for non-compliance. Additional measures should target methane emissions from transport and household energy use by accelerating electrification and decarbonization.
Together, the authors say these policy priorities can provide immediate health gains and set Canada on a credible path to phase out fossil fuels and achieve a healthier, more equitable and climate-resilient future.
IHT5
