UN agencies: climate change threatens workers' health; 2023 brought record disruption in Europe

U.N. agencies warned that climate change is endangering worker health worldwide and that 2023 delivered record climate shocks and disruption across Europe, the U.N. said.

The International Labor Organization on Monday released data saying about seven in 10 of the world’s workers are vulnerable to a changing climate and that health consequences include cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, kidney dysfunction and mental‑health conditions.

Manal Atzi, senior specialist on occupational safety and health at the ILO, highlighted the risks from parasitic and vector‑borne diseases exposed to in workplaces: "15000 people die due to parasitic and vector borne diseases exposed to in the workplace. Obviously, these include, a lot of, diseases like dengue, rabies, and various diseases that are increasing in regions that we never used to see them before," she said.

Separately, the World Meteorological Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2023 caused record levels of disruption and misery for millions in Europe, marked by widespread flooding and severe heat waves. New data from WMO and Copernicus confirmed that 2023 was among the warmest years on record on land and sea in Europe, and WMO said heat‑related deaths have increased by around 30 percent in the past 20 years.

U.N. agencies said the findings reinforce calls for worker protections, public‑health preparedness and adaptation measures as extreme heat and expanding vector ranges affect work environments and public safety.