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According to the 2021 annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, “In the absence of air conditioning, an estimated 195,400 more heat-related deaths would have occurred globally among people aged 65 years and older in 2019.”

The Lancet Countdown is not a government report or a law. It is an independent scientific assessment that compiles and analyzes published research.

The authors also estimated that electricity used for air conditioning in 2019 was associated with roughly 21,000 premature deaths from fine particulat...