The Lancet Psychiatry today launches a major Commission on Climate Change and Mental Health with a clear message: the climate crisis is also a mental health crisis. Rising heat, floods, fires, displacement, and economic shocks are driving surges in anxiety, depression, and suicide—yet mental health is almost invisible in global climate policy.

Led by Lasse Brandt, Jura Augustinavicius, and Jurjen Luykx, with contributions from Amsterdam UMC’s Sem Cohen and Hilgo Bruining, the Commission brings together world-leading experts to deliver a blueprint for action. It will set out how to protect mental wellbeing, strengthen resilience, and ensure that climate strategies finally include mental health.

“This gap is deeply concerning, as people living with psychiatric illness are among the most vulnerable to the impacts and consequences of the climate crisis.”

Read the comment in Lancet Psychiatry here.

The Commission’s call is urgent: without protecting mental health, the world cannot hope to adapt to the climate crisis. Jurjen Luykx explains: “Such a commission has never existed before, and mental health is still missing from climate change policies. This gap is deeply concerning, as people living with psychiatric illness are among the most vulnerable to the impacts and consequences of the climate crisis. We are therefore looking forward to working on this Commission in the year to come, in collaboration with over 90 researchers and clinicians from across the globe.”

Affiliations

Lasse Brandt: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Jura Augustinavicius: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Montréal, QC, Canada. Jurjen Luykx: Department of Psychiatry Amsterdam UMC