UNFCCC chief calls pregnancy a new fault line in the climate crisis as heat survey is published

9 October 2026

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said pregnancy and childbirth have become a new fault line in the global climate crisis as extreme heat worsens.
He was speaking in Fiji at an event organised by the charitable foundation Wellcome on the first day of the pre-COP ministerial meeting, ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya.
Stiell said extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight and maternal complications.
He cited a Wellcome-commissioned survey of maternal health professionals in five countries across five continents.
Some 73 per cent of those surveyed reported that heat-linked cases or complications had increased over the past five years.
And 81 per cent were concerned or very concerned that extreme heat would increasingly put maternal, foetal and newborn health at risk without more action.
He called for maternal and newborn health to be built into countries' climate plans and for the tripling of adaptation finance agreed at COP30 to be delivered.