World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’

## Summary
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A woman in the lagoon at Funafuti, Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’ Exclusive: Former UN climate chief to co-chair Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality What are the health impacts of sea-level rise, and who should pay? Photograph: Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace “We in the climate community are very guilty of explaining things in way too esoteric terms, as though climate change were something that is not happening now,” Figueres said. “So framing these issues in terms of health, in terms of dignity, in terms of livelihoods, in terms of identity and cultural continuity … provides a much better context to the challenge of reducing emissions, because we then understand that this really is about the human experience on this planet … Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable | Christiana Figueres Read more “Just from a health perspective, it is now affecting drinking water, it’s affecting sanitation, it’s affecting food security because of the salinisation of all of these lands that are ocean front. “It is happening now, it is a crisis of health and it is the mother of all injustices.” Figueres said the commission would consider the intergenerational trauma and inequity caused by displacement. “Can you imagine the pain of having to leave the bones of ancestors and being displaced in order to be able to protect the future of children?” she said. “That is a pain that is already being experienced in the Pacific islands . Figueres said legally binding agreements were not enough to tackle the health harms of the climate crisis, recalling how Canada exited the Kyoto agreement just before facing billions in penalties for failing to meet its emissions targets. “They simply sent me a letter and said, ‘Madam executive secretary, hereby, Canada removes itself from the Kyoto protocol.’ So having a legally binding agreement does not guarantee at all that any country would comply.” View image in fullscreen A sea wall at Nanumea.

## Article Content
A woman in the lagoon at Funafuti, Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
View image in fullscreen
A woman in the lagoon at Funafuti, Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’
Exclusive:
Former UN climate chief to co-chair Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality
What are the health impacts of sea-level rise, and who should pay?
Christiana Figueres: Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable
Countries are being “held hostage” by their reliance on fossil fuels, a former UN climate chief has warned, describing the health impacts of climate change as “the mother of all injustices”.
Christiana Figueres, an international climate negotiator who helped deliver the Paris agreement signed in 2016, made the comments as she was announced on Wednesday as co-chair of a
Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality
.
Lancet Commissions are international collaborations that analyse major global health issues and influence policy. This commission will examine legal frameworks to hold countries accountable for the
health harms of sea-level rise
. It will report by September 2027.
While the timing of the announcement – amid the US-Israel war on Iran – is coincidental, Figueres said the fuel crisis was “dramatic proof” of the global dependence on fossil fuels that is driving geopolitical instability and the health impacts the commission will examine.
View image in fullscreen
Under threat … Tepuka Island in Tuvalu.
Photograph: Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace
The commission comes after
Pacific island health ministers
called for greater global focus
on sea-level rise as a health and justice issue, as well as an environmental challenge.
What are the health impacts of sea-level rise, and who should pay?
Read more
Rising seas contaminate drinking water, damage food supplies and force entire communities from their homes.
Sea-level rise is not uniform and is influenced by weather patterns, ocean currents and changes in gravity as ice sheets melt. The rise
is larger in the oceans furthest from the ice sheets
, and is higher than global averages in the Pacific. It means island nations including Tuvalu, Kiribati and Fiji may
become uninhabitable
within decades.
Many
low-lying cities are also under threat
, including New Orleans in the US, Cardiff and London in the UK, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
In March,
research published in the international science journal Nature
found that
ocean levels had been underestimated
due to inaccurate modelling. In some areas of the global south, including south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific, they may be 100cm to 150cm higher than previously thought.
View image in fullscreen
Most of Tuvalu is less than 3 metres above sea level.
Photograph: Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace
“We in the climate community are very guilty of explaining things in way too esoteric terms, as though climate change were something that is not happening now,” Figueres said.
“So framing these issues in terms of health, in terms of dignity, in terms of livelihoods, in terms of identity and cultural continuity … provides a much better context to the challenge of reducing emissions, because we then understand that this really is about the human experience on this planet …
Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable | Christiana Figueres
Read more
“Just from a health perspective, it is now affecting drinking water, it’s affecting sanitation, it’s affecting food security because of the salinisation of all of these lands that are ocean front.
“It is happening now, it is a crisis of health and it is the mother of all injustices.”
Figueres said the commission would consider the intergenerational trauma and inequity caused by displacement.
“Can you imagine the pain of having to leave the bones of ancestors and being displaced in order to be able to protect the future of children?” she said.
“That is a pain that is already being experienced in the
Pacific islands
. That is a pain that we cannot put in economic terms. The grief is huge.”
She said young people were “growing up understanding that they are in a world that is already ravaged by climate change”.
View image in fullscreen
Schoolchildren from a school outside Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. The country is lobbying the UN to uphold a landmark international court of justice ruling on climate harms.
Photograph: Hilaire Bule/AFP/Getty Images
“How many of them don’t even want to have children because they’re so concerned about the conditions unde

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- The country is lobbying the UN to uphold a landmark international court of justice ruling on climate harms.
- A landmark advisory opinion published in 2025 by the international court of justice (ICJ) found that countries have a legal obligation prevent harm to the climate, and that failing to do so could result in them paying compensation and making other forms of restitution.
- Photograph: Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project She said she believed change was more likely to come from a combination of legal pressure, scientific evidence and what she described as appealing to the “enlightened self-interest” of governments and corporations. “That is why it is important to to lay bare the consequences of inaction,” Figueres said, adding: “Companies should understand for their business continuation, they should reduce emissions.
- Governments should understand that in order for them to stabilise their economy, and protect their people, they should reduce emissions. “I just think that enlightened self-interest based on scientific facts – which is what the commission is going to put forward – is a much more effective route to emission reductions than a legally binding agreement from which anybody can withdraw.”

### Areas for Consideration
- View image in fullscreen Under threat … Tepuka Island in Tuvalu.
- Photograph: Bianca Vitale/Greenpeace The commission comes after Pacific island health ministers called for greater global focus on sea-level rise as a health and justice issue, as well as an environmental challenge.
- Many low-lying cities are also under threat , including New Orleans in the US, Cardiff and London in the UK, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

### Implications
- A woman in the lagoon at Funafuti, Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis.
- Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A woman in the lagoon at Funafuti, Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis.
- Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’ Exclusive: Former UN climate chief to co-chair Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality What are the health impacts of sea-level rise, and who should pay?
- Christiana Figueres: Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable Countries are being “held hostage” by their reliance on fossil fuels, a former UN climate chief has warned, describing the health impacts of climate change as “the mother of all injustices”.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers climate, health, sea topics. Notable strengths include discussion of climate. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1252.