Devex: Climate finance reform needed to prevent ‘suicidal’ chaos, Guterres says
“United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for an overhaul of the climate finance system Wednesday, warning that all financial flows must align with the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals in a ‘race against time to adapt to a rapidly changing climate’…” (Lieberman, 12/3).

NPR: ‘We Don’t Have To Live This Way’: Doctors Call For Climate Action
“Climate change is making people sick and leading to premature death, according to a pair of influential reports on the connections between global warming and health. Scientists from the World Meteorological Organization released a preliminary report on the global climate which shows that the last decade was the warmest on record and that millions of people were affected by wildfires, floods, and extreme heat this year on top of the global pandemic. Separately, a sprawling analysis published Wednesday by the medical research journal The Lancet focuses on public health data from 2019, and finds that heat waves, air pollution, and extreme weather increasingly damage human health. … Both reports make an explicit connection between death, disease, and burning fossil fuels…” (Hersher, 12/2).

Reuters: Feeling the heat? Scientists warn of climate shocks to global health
“Heat-related deaths are surging around the world, particularly among older people, scientists said on Thursday, warning of growing pressure on health systems hit hard by COVID-19. Almost 300,000 people over the age of 65 died from extreme heat in 2018 — a 54% rise in two decades, said a report on the links between health and climate in The Lancet medical journal…” (Rowling, 12/2).

Additional coverage of the reports and Guterres’s comments is available from The Nation, New York Times, and VOA News.