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

Christiana Figueres, former UN climate chief, warned that countries are "held hostage" by fossil fuel reliance, calling climate health impacts the "mother of all injustices." This statement came as she was announced on Wednesday as co-chair of a new Lancet Commission. The commission will examine how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing, and inequality globally. Figueres, an international climate negotiator who helped deliver the 2016 Paris Agreement, will lead efforts to investigate these critical issues. Her new role highlights ongoing concerns about the interconnectedness of climate change, public health, and social equity.