The ‘safe climate’ opportunity in health
Report says health sector has important role in energy transition
THE CLIMATE change risks to public health may be varied and many, but there are also some important opportunities in health that must be exploited as the world looks to get ahead of the threats.
This is according to the 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms.
“With the world currently heading towards three degrees Celsius of heating, any further delays in climate change action will increasingly threaten the health and survival of billions of people alive today … Despite the challenges, data also expose the transformative health benefits that could come from the transition to a zero-carbon future, with health professionals playing a crucial role in ensuring these gains are maximised,” the report said.
According to the report, some 775 million people globally continue to live without electricity while close to one billion continue to be served by health-care facilities without reliable energy.
“With structural global inequities in the development of, access to, and use of clean energy, only 2.3 per cent of electricity in low HDI (Human Development Index) countries comes from modern renewables (against 11 per cent in very high HDI countries), and 92 per cent of households in low HDI countries still rely on biomass fuels to meet their energy needs (against 7.5 per cent in very high HDI countries),” explained the report, which draws on the expertise of114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and United Nations agencies.
Against this background, it said “the transition to renewables can enable access to decentralised clean energy and, coupled with interventions to increase energy efficiency, can reduce energy poverty and power high quality health-supportive services”.
The gains, it noted, also extend to helping to prevent the 1.9 million deaths each year that are due to “dirty-fuel-derived, outdoor, airborne, fine particulate matter pollution and a large proportion of the 78 deaths per 100,000 people associated with exposure to indoor air pollution”; as well as employment generation.
KEY TO MAXIMISING HEALTH GAINS
“Ensuring countries, particularly those facing high levels of energy poverty, are supported in the safe development, deployment, and adoption of renewable energy is key to maximising health gains and preventing unjust extractive industrial practices that can harm the health and livelihoods of local populations and widen health inequities,” the report noted.
On the involvement of the health community, it said such a move augurs well for success and sustainability.
“With its science-driven approach, this community is uniquely positioned to ensure that decision-makers are held accountable, and foster human-centred climate action that safeguards human health above all else,” it noted.
“The ambitions of the Paris Agreement are still achievable, and a prosperous and healthy future still lies within reach. But the concerted efforts and commitments of health professionals, policymakers, corporations, and financial institutions will be needed to ensure the promise of health-centred climate action becomes a reality that delivers a thriving future for all,” the report added.
The Paris Agreement, the result of years of climate negotiations among countries, embodies their commitment to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”.
Crafted in response to climate risks and threats, including not only warmer temperatures but also sea level rise and extreme weather events together with the associated risks to freshwater and food security, the Agreement also reflects other commitments.
They include “increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production”; and to “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”.
Caribbean small island developing states, meanwhile, are among those most vulnerable to climate risks and threats even as they continue to contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions that fuel global warming and the changing climate.