Extreme heat making pregnancy a ‘new fault line’ in climate crisis

Speaking in Fiji at an event organized by global charitable foundation Wellcome, ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell said a deep test of climate action was “far, far simpler” than degrees, targets and finance: “whether we protect life at its most fragile”. 

“Rising temperatures mean rising danger in pregnancy,” he told first day of the pre-COP ministerial meeting, noting that extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight and maternal complications. 

Health workers sound alarm

Mr. Stiell cited new data, released on Monday, from a survey commissioned by Wellcome of maternal health professionals in five countries across five continents. 

Some 73 per cent reported that heat-linked cases or complications had increased over the past five years, while 81 percent were concerned or very concerned that extreme heat would increasingly out maternal, foetal and newborn health at risk without more action. 

Nearly all respondents had cared for a pregnant woman or baby whose health they considered had been affected by extreme heat. 

“Behind those numbers are human stories: an expectant mother’s journey to clinic delayed by dangerous heat; a midwife working through unsafe temperatures; a newborn needing specialist care,” Mr. Stiell said.

‘No cool place to go’ 

While no one is immune, he stressed that the risks and impacts are not shared equally. People working outdoors, living in unregulated housing, travelling far to a clinic or relying on facilities without water, power or cooling “cannot be protected by advice alone”. 

“‘Staying cool’ is simply not an option when there is no cool place to go,” he said. 

“A safe birth is already too often shaped by geography, income and access to care. Without action, extreme heat will widen that injustice.”

For small islands and other nations that “did practically nothing to create this climate crisis”, Mr. Stiell said, the findings underscore the need for support at scale. 

He called for the tripling of adaptation finance agreed at COP30 in Belém to be delivered and for nations to work with the whole financial system to make $1.3 trillion a year for developing countries a reality. 

Three priorities 

Mr. Stiell set out three priorities: 

• Making pregnancy and newborn care part of adaptation, heat and health planning;
• Turning evidence into protection through guidance, training, heat alerts and safer facilities;
• Improving data to show where risks are growing and which interventions work;

“What is not named in a plan is too often not funded, not measured and not protected,” he said. “Harm that is not counted is too easily ignored.”

He commended the COP31 Presidency of Türkiye and Australia’s President of Negotiations for making health a key priority, building on Brazil’s work last year. 

“A changing climate must never be accepted as a reason pregnancy and birth become less safe,” he said. 

“A newborn’s healthy start must never depend on a family’s ability to escape the heat.”