Climate Impact Lab spokesperson

“Given that there is still time now for policymakers and others to take action to prevent these deaths, we felt our findings couldn’t wait for the peer review process to play out. That would certainly be too late to act for this El Niño cycle,”

Climate Impact Lab spokesperson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-23

The scientists released the shorter report before the peer-review process was complete because of El Niño's rapid strengthening and the need for timely action.