The Lancet Planetary Health

Nina Hobbhahn, Robin Fears, Andy Haines, Volker ter Meulen

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30114-7

Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2019, Pages e333-e335

Absract: The progression of climate change is increasingly recognised as a climate emergency by international advisory bodies and governments worldwide, and there are growing warnings that it will be accompanied by severe health consequences. During the UN Climate Conference in June, 2019 the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, called for more ambitious and immediate climate action to meet Paris Agreement targets. The World Conference on Health and Climate Change, organised by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in conjunction with WHO in April, 2019, was an important step in bringing stakeholders together to discuss preparedness and adaptation measures. A combination of mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation measures to adjust to the unavoidable is needed to meet global health needs, particularly given that many mitigation measures also have substantial health co-benefits. The growing attention of decision-makers to the health aspects of climate change is welcome and needed, but the increasing political visibility requires robust evidence to inform urgently needed, meaningful, and sustainable policies without inadvertent consequences.