In recent years, discussions around the impact of climate change on mental health have tended to focus on climate anxiety.
This distress regarding the future of the Earth and humanity in the face of global warming is, however, far from the full picture.
Research is helping to build a better understanding of the damage that climate change, particularly extreme heat, can cause to mental health.
The latest assessment report on climate impacts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded with very high confidence that rising global temperatures have “adversely affected” mental health in regions around the world.
Research indicates that heatwaves can trigger increases in both the hospitalisation of people with mental-health challenges and emergency psychiatric visits. People with pre-existing mental-health problems also have an increased risk of dying during periods of high temperatures.
In addition, suicide rates have been shown to increase in higher temperatures and are expected to rise in a warmer world – although the links with climate change are complex and compounded by other factors.
Despite these research findings, significant gaps remain in understanding the biological, psychological, social and environmental interactions between mental health and heat.
And policymakers have a huge amount of ground to make up, with mental health barely featuring in climate-related policies and commitments around the world.
How heat can affect mental health
Being in the midst of a heatwave can feel all encompassing. Generally, being hot and uncomfortable can affect a person’s mood, leading some to feel more irritable and stressed. This can have a knock-on effect on behaviour. For example, research shows that people are more likely to tweet negative comments during a heatwave.
Extreme heat can have even more significant implications for sleep. Research shows that warming nights are eroding human sleep globally – and the effect is three times larger for residents of lower-income countries.
While lost sleep in hot and humid conditions is unpleasant for anyone, for those with mental health problems, poor sleep carries a real risk of making them worse.
Nonetheless, not all heat is bad for mental health. Many people believe that they are happier on sunny days and some research agrees.
For example, a 2023 study in Switzerland found that, in the general population, mood tends to improve as temperatures get warmer. However, the study also found that the opposite is true for people with anxiety, depression and psychosis, who were more likely to experience low mood.
Impacts of extreme heat
The impact of extreme heat on an individual’s mood has implications for social behaviours and interactions.
There is a growing body of research linking extreme heat with an increase in violent behaviour, such as homicides, sexual violence and assaults, which – in turn – can negatively impact mental health.
For example, a study conducted in India, Nepal and Pakistan found that with each 1C increase in the annual temperature there was a 4.5% increase in violent acts. This finding alone is an indicator that heat affects a person’s psychology, but there are so many other factors that need to be considered.
There are other possible social drivers that may explain this link. People living with pre-existing mental-health problems may be more vulnerable to the impact of extreme heat due to societal factors that put them at increased risk.
Due to the relationship between mental-health problems and poverty, people living with mental-health conditions may be more likely to live in less energy-efficient housing, have less access to adaptation mechanisms such as air conditioning, be more socially isolated, or work in occupations that increase their exposure to extreme heat.
Finally, certain medications for mental-health problems – such as some antidepressants or antipsychotics – may disrupt the body’s ability to regulate temperature, meaning that people taking these medications may be more vulnerable in high temperatures. This may explain why people taking these medications have been found to be at higher risk of being hospitalised or dying during heatwaves.
One patient in the UK taking antipsychotics – medication for mental-health problems where symptoms include psychotic experiences – was quoted last year in the BMJ explaining how they were affected by extreme heat. They said:
“[F]or many summers I had also noticed that I struggled to tolerate the heat as the UK weather grew more extreme. I would sweat profusely, my skin would feel clammy, and I would feel very tired, irritable and would struggle to think…I had no idea this was related to my medication.”
Prescribing appropriate medications for certain mental-health conditions and ensuring people taking them are protected from the potential negative impacts of heat represents an important clinical and policy priority.
Research gaps
To date, most studies on climate change and mental health have been conducted in Europe, North America and Australia. This means that there are huge gaps in research for the global south, which is facing some of the most severe impacts of climate change.
A new project called Connecting Climate Minds, which Wellcome funds, aims to develop a research and action agenda on climate change and mental health. As part of this project, 900 people shared their experiences on the impact that climate change is having on mental health around the world.
One of them is Laila, a teacher working in Jordan. She has been suffering from stress, anxiety and depression. At its worst, she confesses that she struggles to teach and finds communicating with the children very difficult.
Over the past few years, these episodes have become more frequent and severe. Her psychologist noticed that Laila’s mental health seemed to worsen during the country’s extreme heatwaves – something that is becoming more and more common in the region.
Watch her interview in full below.
Wellcome is also set to launch a funding call later this year focusing on uncovering the mechanisms underpinning the association between heat and mental health among the most affected communities worldwide.
The aim is to help build global understanding of the biological, psychological, environmental and social links around extreme heat, which will in turn inform better climate resilient solutions and mental health interventions.
Policymaking lagging behind
As with research, there are gaps in policymaking on mental health and climate change.
Most countries do not currently consider mental health within climate change policies, such as heat action plans. At present, only 3% of the climate pledges submitted by national governments under the Paris Agreement mention mental health.
South Australia is among the few states already doing this. The South Australian warning system incorporates public heat warnings, health advisories and targeted support for at-risk groups including those with mental-health conditions, ensuring that they can access help if needed. In Athens, a city exposed to more frequent and severe heatwaves, psychologists are being deployed to support older adults experiencing loneliness in the heat.
Nature-based policies that improve access to green and blue spaces and transport policies that encourage active modes of transport have also been shown to have co benefits for mental health and the environment.
However, for now, climate change represents one of the biggest threats to physical and mental health globally. Extreme heat is deadlier than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined. Heat stress can exacerbate underlying illnesses – such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma – and can increase the risk of accidents and transmission of some infectious diseases. And this is not considering the huge hidden cost of increasing cases of poor mental health.
Research on how climate change is impacting mental health remains limited and disconnected. A better understanding of how and why extreme heat is negatively impacting mental health will be essential to achieve a world where no one is held back by mental health problems, even in the context of a changing climate.
The post Guest post: The growing problem of how extreme heat damages mental health appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Guest post: The growing problem of how extreme heat damages mental health
A report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Springmount Advisory reveals the untapped green economic opportunity for Western Australia in a declining Asian gas market, which also offers a genuine solution for decarbonisation in Asia.
Is Western Australia clinging to a fading gas industry while a thriving green future passes it by? As major Asian trading partners rapidly pivot away from volatile gas imports toward cheap solar and battery storage, this report exposes a high-stakes choice: risk becoming stranded in an oversupplied fossil fuel market, or harness WA’s unmatched sun and wind to lead the global clean energy transition.
Summary
From Gas to Green: Building Western Australia’s Future State reveals that Western Australia (WA) faces a critical juncture as falling Asian gas demand, geopolitical gas supply volatility and accelerating renewable energy deployment undermine the long-term economic viability of gas exports. By harnessing its world-class wind and solar resources, the report demonstrates that WA can execute an orderly phase-out of gas and pioneer a green commodity export economy that could generate $987 billion in economic value by 2060, create 24,000 ongoing jobs, and drive a 9.6% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Key Findings
- Gas demand is falling in Asia – WA can no longer rely on gas exports: Gas demand in core Asian markets fell in 2025 and is projected to continue to decline in 2026. Legislated energy plans in Japan, South Korea, and China now prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas.
- Asia is increasing renewables, importing gas just gets in the way: Evidence from markets like Thailand suggests that gas imports are increasingly crowding out cheaper renewable energy investments and battery storage rather than displacing coal, locking in more emissions over time.
- Green commodities offer a real solution to decarbonise Asia – this is a major win for WA: With world-class renewables, WA can lead Australia’s green commodity exports, which by 2060 could be worth almost a trillion dollars ($987 billion) and support a genuine 9.6% reduction in global emissions.
Recommendations to WA government
Recommendation 1: Plan an orderly gas phase-out aligned with a trading partner pivot plan
Implement a managed, orderly phase-out of gas exports aligned with trading partners’ decarbonisation pathways, rather than waiting for demand to collapse, by:
- Developing and implementing a staged phase-out of gas facilities aligned with feedstock supply expiry or typical end of facility lifespans.
- Committing to no new gas development for gas expansion, including Browse and Kimberley fields.
- Developing new, reciprocal trade relationships with existing gas trade partners, structured to progressively replace gas exports with green commodities – integrated with recommendation 2.
Recommendation 2: Develop an integrated green commodity export strategy, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub
Establish an integrated green commodity export strategy that immediately prioritises green iron development, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub, by:
- Committing to green commodity export targets to give industry and investors a clear demand signal.
- Prioritising green iron as the lead sector within the broader green commodity strategy, given WA’s iron ore endowment and first-mover potential.
Recommendation 3: Reject false solutions such as carbon dumping (CCS) and blue hydrogen
Reject carbon dumping (also described as carbon capture and storage, or CCS) and blue hydrogen as viable decarbonisation technologies, and prioritise green hydrogen and proven renewables for clean energy and fuel production by:
- Excluding blue hydrogen projects (and CCS-dependent projects) from all government support programs.
- Requiring existing hydrogen-based production (including ammonia, methanol, synthetic fuels) to have clear, near-term transition timelines to switch to green hydrogen production.
What you can do
Together, we can push for a prosperous green future.
You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
REPORT: “From Gas to Green” Building Western Australia’s Future State
Cleaner cooking projects in the UN carbon market will have to set aside a share of their credits to insure against the risk that the trees they save are lost to fire, drought or logging, after the market’s regulator rejected calls to exempt the sector.
The requirement is part of a new rulebook that the Paris Agreement carbon market regulator – the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body – approved last Friday for programmes that aim to cut emissions by distributing new and cleaner cookstoves in regions that still burn wood or charcoal for cooking.
These are the UN mechanism’s first rulebooks for cookstoves, one of the carbon market’s most popular credit types and also one of its most criticised for overstating climate benefits.
They consist of two methodologies: one for programmes that aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by distributing more efficient cookstoves that burn less wood or charcoal, and a separate methodology for projects shifting households to lower-emissions cookers running on electricity or liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
Mkhuthazi Steleki, the South African chair of the Supervisory Body, said “this decision gives cleaner cooking projects a new pathway under the UN carbon market, with clear rules to ensure that each credit represents a real and credible emission reduction”.
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Exemption push rejected
More efficient cookstove projects earn credits based on the amount of carbon they save by preserving trees that would have otherwise been cut down and burned for fuel. But if those trees later burn in a wildfire or are logged, the carbon stored would be released anyway, erasing the climate benefits of the credits.
Several carbon credit developers, conservation NGOs and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) disputed that cookstove projects face this risk, in what critics described as a “coordinated lobbying campaign”.
They argued that, unlike forest protection schemes, this type of credit represents a “flow” of avoided emissions rather than a “stock” of stored carbon that can be released. They also warned that requiring a buffer would impose disproportionate costs and undermine the financial viability of these activities.
But the UN carbon market regulator was not persuaded by the argument. It decided that projects would have to protect against this reversal risk by handing over a percentage of credits to a so-called “buffer pool” instead of selling them.
‘New paradigm’
The amount of credits to be given up is calculated by applying different methods for natural risks, like wildfires, droughts or hurricanes, and human-caused ones, such as logging or land clearing.
For natural risks, project developers will need to apply local risk values derived from new modelling published by a group of independent scientists.
Campaigners have broadly welcomed the decision. Federica Dossi, an expert at Brussels-based advocacy group Carbon Market Watch, said it sets a new paradigm for calculating reversal risk based on empirical data. “This approach is grounded in science and we hope to see this now being adopted by other carbon crediting mechanisms in the voluntary market,” she added.
Backers claim this method is more rigorous than current practice in the voluntary carbon market, which largely relies on expert guesswork.
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Pushback over science
As Climate Home News previously revealed, the same industry and NGO groups that sought an exemption from the “buffer pool”, along with some corporate buyers, criticised the use of a study backed by the UN carbon market’s experts that recommended the new risk assessment approach.
The groups pushed for more flexible rules that would have allowed natural risk values drawn from other sources, including national databases, or from the project developers themselves.
While the Supervisory Body rejected this approach, it gave project developers and countries the option to propose alternative values that would first need to be vetted by the mechanism’s expert panel and then approved by the regulator.
A carbon market expert told Climate Home News that, while it is too early to say how this provision will be used, they expect requests will have to be backed up with solid scientific evidence, lowering the risk of unfounded claims.
Policy discounts questioned
To guard against human-caused risks, projects will need to apply a flat 20% value set by the Supervisory Body, at the bottom of the 20-45% range recommended by its technical experts ahead of last week’s meeting.
That value can be further reduced by up to two-thirds if the host country has an emission-reduction plan covering forests, a long-term climate strategy and a framework for the UN’s REDD+ forest protection scheme.
Injy Johnstone, senior research fellow at the Munich-based Max Planck Institute, said that, while these are important governance measures, their existence does not necessarily demonstrate that the underlying risk of forest carbon loss has been reduced.
“It is important to distinguish between evidence of actual risk reduction and assumptions about the effectiveness of policy commitments,” she added.
Moving target
A UN source told Climate Home News that, under th