Health benefits of decarbonisation

THE environmental reasons for our Net Zero policies are clear. Global warming is already causing havoc around the world and will only get worse if we continue to emit CO2.

The economic arguments for eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels are also compelling as renewables offer the cheapest energy and nothing can beat reducing energy requirements through insulation and the like, but less has been said about the health benefits of decarbonisation.

Air pollution from our use of fossil fuels is the greatest environmental risk to human health, costing lives and billions. On top of the obvious respiratory diseases, recent research has shown links between air pollution and heart arrhythmia even in otherwise healthy teenagers and even lung cancer. Medical research has shown that elderly people living near fracking sites are more likely to die early and the methane released from all fossil fuel processes degrades to ground-level ozone that also leads to premature deaths and poor health.

Based on medical evidence, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and almost 200 other medical bodies, including the UK’s Faculty of Public Health, have said we must stop investing in more fossil fuel infrastructure and phase out existing production in line with COP agreements. Our Climate Change Committee says this transition is achievable but we have to stop dragging our feet. The alternative is an “act of self-sabotage”, according to the director of the WHO. More fossil fuels will line the pockets of the few at the expense our health.

Marianne Segev Exeter