The UN just released a report on the Health Argument for Climate Action. It states the next few years are a crucial window – governments are working on both their Covid recovery plans and international climate commitments.
The key thing in the report is this: the health benefits of climate action are well documented.
Transitioning to clean energy and clean transportation in a just and equitable plan will have immense health benefits. Too many front-line communities have been exposed to the air and water pollution in the process of extracting, refining and process, transporting, and burning both fossil and biomass fuels. A just transition to clean energy will help reduce disparities and is the only healthy and moral action we should take.
The same dirty fuels that make greenhouse gases also make air pollution, and both hurt our health and cause too many needless deaths, right now.
Actions that improve health, reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases, and address climate include: more walking and cycling, urban green spaces which help with climate mitigation and adaptation, provide local cooling, and stress relief, more nutritious plant-based diets which lower GHG and reduce deaths from unhealthy diets.
Here are the 10 recommendations from the UN special report:
1. Commit to a healthy and just recovery from Covid.
2. Health is not negotiable, health and justice need to be at the center of the climate talks.
3. Prioritize actions with the biggest health, social, and economic gains.
4. Build resilient and sustainable health systems and facilities, and support healthy adaptation and resilience across sectors.
5. Plan a just transition to clean renewable energy to save lives from air pollution. This will protect and improve both health and climate.
6. Reimagine urban environments, transportation, and mobility.
7. Protect and restore nature as the foundation of our health.
8. Promote healthy, sustainable, and resilient agriculture and food systems.
9. Finance a healthier, fairer, greener future.
10. Listen to the health community and prescribe urgent action.
Health professionals and health organizations around the world are using terms such as “Code Red”, “health emergency.” These are strong terms describing the health emergency we are experiencing. Health professionals are calling on all governments to respond to the health emergency for our own sake.
We know that industrial countries have become wealthy by making most of the greenhouse gases (GHG) that are in the air now. So wealthy countries have created the problem, and have the means to do more to address that same problem they created. It is the moral and fair thing to do.
Read the UN report on the Health Argument for Climate Action.
10/12/2021
