According to ANU experts, deaths from climate change have been “substantially under reported” in Australia’s national health records, and it's high time it's listed as a reason for death on official documents.

Indeed, the research contends that deaths attributed to environmental heath factors is at least 50 times more than what is officially published on death certificates.

Recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health, figures show that, over the past 11 years, 340 deaths in Australia were recorded as being due to excessive heat. But a more in-depth, statically analysis has dwarfed that figure, finding 36, 475 deaths could have been attributed to excessive heart brought on by climate change.

“Climate change is a killer, but we don’t acknowledge it on death certificates," co-author of the study Dr Arnagretta Hunter, from the ANU Medical School said. Campus Review interviewed Dr Hunter about this terrible, yet some would day predicable, revelation as our climate worsens.

Hunter said while COVID-19 is a deadly and extremely serious disease, it's affected approximately five million people at the moment. In contrast, in years to come, climate change is expected to affect millions, if not billions, of people.

"Climate change is a killer," Dr Hunter warns, "And we need to include it in our health data set.

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