Climate inaction continues to harm and kill people in all countries with a record 710,000 estimated deaths globally from heat in 2023, a UN-partnered report warned on Wednesday. For the first time, more than seven in 10 fatalities were attributable to human-caused climate change.

The ocean absorbs around 30 per cent of human-caused carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and 90 per cent of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. But climate change has already reduced its capacity to absorb carbon by approximately six per cent, a new UN report warns ahead of the COP31 climate conference in November.