Global Leaders Prioritize Concurrently Addressing Climate Crisis and Public Health Issues

In an effort to mitigate the far-reaching repercussions of climate change, authorities are increasingly optimistic that collaborative endeavors aimed at bolstering a faltering global public health infrastructure and reinvigorating stagnant measures to combat climate change can synergize. This could lead to a more effective framework for tackling both issues simultaneously.

For the first time, leaders from the World Health Organization and those involved in upcoming climate discussions announced that they will dedicate a day in their December climate negotiations to discussing the intersection between climate change and public health. Their objective is to focus global attention on the direct and devastating impact of climate change on human health, thereby encouraging nations to act decisively against the root issue: carbon emissions.

Vanessa Kerry, Special Envoy for Health and Climate Change at the World Health Organization, CEO of Seed Global Health, and the daughter of U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry, starkly stated, “Climate change is a direct threat to human life, and it is tantamount to a health crisis. Rather than calculating our shortcomings in terms of degrees Celsius, we ought to quantify them in terms of human lives lost.”

As New York commences its Climate Week, leading up to a special U.N. Climate Ambition Summit, key figures underscored the integral role of healthcare as a component of the fight against climate change. They emphasized the need for increased funding in healthcare as imperative.

Meanwhile, authorities reported the arrest of over 100 climate activists for obstructing access to the New York Federal Reserve. The protesters aimed their criticism at Wall Street’s financial backing of fossil fuel industries as well as at President Joe Biden’s administration, emphasizing the urgent need for the United States to address climate change more aggressively.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, remarked, “The climate crisis poses immediate and present health threats. Reducing carbon and other pollutants will result in the preservation of lives. The well-being of future generations hangs in the balance.”

A recent U.N. report indicated that the global community is severely lagging in fulfilling the goals set forth by the 2015 Paris Agreement, stated Adnan Amin, CEO of the upcoming climate summit, known as COP28. According to Amin, the forthcoming negotiations in Dubai represent a critical opportunity for realignment and progress, particularly with a day dedicated to public health issues.

Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP28, stressed the high stakes involved, noting that air pollution, distinct from but often originating from the same sources as greenhouse gases, causes approximately 7 million deaths worldwide each year.

President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi illustrated the lethal nature of climate change through the recent experience of his nation, which witnessed fatalities and subsequent malaria outbreaks in the wake of Cyclone Freddy. He asserted that many of Africa’s healthcare challenges are intrinsically tied to climate change.

A mere 0.5% of global financial aid is allocated to tackling both public health and climate change, a figure Sultan Al Jaber termed “grossly insufficient and unacceptable.”

Maria Neira, WHO Director of Climate Change, Environment and Health, suggested that reframing the narrative to focus on the lives that could be saved by adaptation and emissions reduction could catalyze a shift in attitudes towards combating climate change.

In a separate series of actions, hundreds of climate activists protested outside the New York Federal Reserve, targeting Wall Street and calling upon world leaders, including President Biden, to respond to the climate crisis with the urgency it demands.

As the United States remains the world leader in planned future drilling for oil and gas, activists like Alicé Nascimento, campaigns director for New York Communities for Change, emphasized the Federal Reserve’s capacity to impose regulations that could halt financial support to new fossil fuel ventures.

This report is part of AP’s extensive climate and environmental coverage and is supported by multiple private foundations. AP maintains full editorial control over all its content.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Climate Change and Public Health