This story connects climate and healthcare datasets to show a broader risk pattern. The temperature and emissions data show the environmental pressure Australia faces, while the emergency department and elective surgery data show the existing pressure on the health system. These datasets do not prove that climate change directly caused recent hospital demand. Instead, they show why rising heat is important for health-system planning: climate risk is growing while hospital capacity is already stretched.
The story begins with the climate signal: Australia’s average surface temperature has risen over time.
Australia has warmed clearly since 1950.
The long-term temperature trend shows that hotter years are becoming part of Australia’s climate story. The highlighted point marks 2019, the hottest year in this dataset.
This matters because climate pressure does not arrive in an empty system. Emergency departments are already managing millions of presentations each year.
Emergency departments are handling millions of presentations each year.
Across Australia, emergency departments remain under heavy pressure. This chart compares emergency department presentation numbers by state and territory from 2020–21 to 2024–25.
Health-system planning also needs to consider who uses emergency care. Age and sex patterns help identify groups that may require more targeted support during climate-related health events.
Older Australians are a key group in health-system planning.
This chart does not show heat-related illness directly. Instead, it shows which age groups already use emergency departments heavily, helping explain why climate resilience must include hospital capacity and older Australians.
Emergency care is only one part of the system. Elective surgery waiting times show that pressure also exists elsewhere in hospital care.
Elective surgery waits show another pressure point.
Emergency demand is only one part of the health-system picture. Elective surgery waiting times show how much pressure already exists across states and territories.
The final chart returns to the climate context. Australia’s per-person emissions and temperature anomalies show why health-system resilience and emissions reduction need to be discussed together.
Emissions have fallen, but warming has not disappeared.
Australia’s per-person CO₂ emissions have declined from earlier peaks, but temperature anomalies remain high. The two lines are scaled so their long-term patterns can be compared in one chart.
The data does not prove that every extra emergency department visit is caused by climate change. Instead, the warning is about pressure building from two directions: Australia is getting hotter, while the health system is already carrying heavy demand. Preparing for climate change therefore means preparing hospitals, protecting older Australians, and reducing the emissions that contribute to long-term warming.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Emergency department care 2024–25. AIHW. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/myhospitals/sectors/emergency-department-care
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Elective surgery waiting times 2024–25. AIHW. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/myhospitals/sectors/elective-surgery
Copernicus Climate Change Service. (2024). Surface air temperature [Dataset]. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-annual-surface-temperature
Ritchie, H., Rosado, P., & Roser, M. (2023). CO₂ and greenhouse gas emissions. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2024). Temperature anomaly. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-temperature-anomalies
This assignment used Claude (Anthropic, 2025) for code review and narrative feedback. All data visualisations were built, tested, and finalised by the author in R.
Anthropic. (2025). Claude (claude-sonnet-4-6) [Large language model]. https://www.anthropic.com