Climate change will impact all aspects of life as we know it, including blood donation with a new review in The Lancet Planetary Health now suggesting that climate change poses serious risks to the safety, stability, and availability of the global blood supply.

“As natural disasters intensify, disease patterns shift and health challenges climb, the research highlights the need for urgent action to build a more resilient and adaptable blood supply system,” says first author of the paper, University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood researcher, Dr Elvina Viennet.

The review assessed the available scientific literature, and also analysed how a changing climate could affect every stage of the blood supply.

It found that conditions exacerbated by climate change, such as extreme weather and the spread of infectious disease, may prevent people from donating blood while simultaneously triggering a surge in the demand.

Viennet says major disruptions to the availability or safety of donated blood could put lives at risk.

“Blood and blood products are critical for medical treatments like surgeries, cancer treatments, trauma care, pregnancy complications, and chronic disease management – plus, they save lives in emergencies,” she says.

“Warmer temperatures and natural disasters such as heatwaves, floods, cyclones and bushfires are expected to become more frequent and severe.

“As well as limiting the mobility of large numbers of people, these events disrupt the storage, safety, and transportation of blood which has a short shelf life.”

She points to the recent example of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, when 22 donor centres across Queensland and northern New South Wales were forced to close for 4 days in February, cancelling more than 3,500 donation appointments.

“This was the first time a weather event caused such an unprecedented impact on donations,” she says.

“We were lucky that thousands of donors in unaffected areas stepped up — but we can’t rely on luck in the future.”

The review found that another major threat to the security of the blood supply is that of infectious disease, which reduces the number of eligible donors and increases the risk of transmitted infections via blood transfusions.

“For example, predictions of increased rainfall and warmer temperatures in certain regions including Australia, could intensify mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus and Malaria, and potentially see them spread to new areas,” says lead researcher Associate Professor Helen Faddy of UniSC.

This may necessitate even stricter donor screening to ensure recipients are protected.

Climate change is also expected to impact the physical and mental health of donors and staff.

“The eligibility of our donors to give blood may be impacted – as we see health conditions exacerbated by climate change such as dehydration, blood pressure, asthma, and even psychological distress such as ‘climate anxiety’ – these things may all impact an already small number of people who give blood – less than 3% of the population donate,” says Viennet.

Faddy adds that shifts in disease prevalence and natural disaster frequency could increase the demand for blood transfusions due to conditions such as pregnancy complications, cardiovascular disease and sickle cell disease.

“We could also face greater difficulty in finding the right blood for patients,” she says.

“With rising sea levels increasing migration rates, it’s essential to have more donors from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and to increase the number of people who give blood.”

Further studies are needed to fully understand the magnitude of these potential effects, and to develop targeted mitigation strategies to ensure a more climate-resilient blood supply chain.

“As our environment evolves, we need to reduce reliance on traditional blood supply chains and have adaptable strategies that offer rapid responses to climate-related challenges,” says Faddy.

The study highlights the importance of investing in critical tools such as early warning systems, disease surveillance, flexible approaches to donor eligibility and blood transport in emergencies, hospital preparation, and expanding collection services so donations can be relocated quickly.

“Recent global innovations include cell salvage techniques during surgery, the use of drones to transport blood when other transit is disrupted, and walking blood banks, which collect donations at the site of crises,” Faddy says.

However, as fossil fuel emissions continue to reach record highs year after year, ultimately stopping fossil fuel expansion, phasing out their production and use, and rapidly transitioning to renewable energy, is essential to turning the tides on the climate crisis.