The climate crisis is a health crisis, threatening our wellbeing and our lives in every corner of the globe

As the 78th UN General Assembly draws to its close, Claire Tarn , director at Freuds+, reflects on the impact of the climate crisis on health.

This month, hundreds of global leaders came together in New York to focus on the myriad of challenges we are facing as a society, including what can be done to avert the climate crisis. Attending UNGA for Freuds+, I found myself even more concerned about the relationship between climate and health. It is increasingly clear that attempts to distinguish between the needs of the planet and the needs of people are spurious: all life on earth depends upon a healthy planet. The evidence of the threat to our species is now irrefutable. The World Health Organization estimates that there will be 250,000 additional human deaths to climate change each year in the coming decades. We see these deaths resulting from extreme temperatures, from fires and floods, from the escalation in vector-borne diseases, and from malnutrition due to crop failure; less apparent, but equally damaging, is the widespread negative impact on people’s mental health, as millions see their livelihoods destroyed, or are made homeless, displaced, or bereaved. Even those not yet directly affected are beginning to experience climate anxiety, with younger people especially vulnerable. As with most threats to population health, the health impacts of the climate crisis are not being felt equally: the most vulnerable people in the most at-risk countries, are feeling the impacts first and feeling them worst.

Did UNGA provide any hope? I think so. We saw a real increase in organisations talking about and convening around this challenge. While this was encouraging, we need to act faster and act smarter, breaking down siloes and working together to address key challenges. It is time to move from talk to action. ?

Some of the themes I saw emerging at UNGA include the importance of putting communities at the heart of the response to climate change, so that solutions are created from the ground-up and owned by the people who must implement them. While it was good to see political momentum, we also need more practical solutions and leadership through action. Finally, we need to accept that the private sector has a role to play, by investing in innovation and scaling up solutions.

Along with our colleagues from Freuds sustainability comms team OnePointFive (opf.degree) , we were proud to support so many Freuds Group Group clients at UNGA in raising the profile of the issues and challenges we face. For example, Bupa , using its clinical expertise and global presence, is partnering with the Norman Foster Foundation to explore innovative solutions to make urban environments healthier and more resilient in the face of climate change. Another example is Foundation S , which released its ‘Time to Adapt’ Action Report, calling for urgent action to help climate-impacted countries adapt and become more resilient to the realities of climate change, and pledged to invest EUR $40million before 2030 to support these initiatives.?

While UNGA has been a moment to convene and align, COP28, which will be held this November and December in Dubai, will be a moment for action and commitment. We are proud to support Dr Vanessa Kerry, who in her role as WHO Envoy for Climate and Health, said “we must not be complacent – there is still so much work to do. The climate crisis is a health crisis, and it is killing us daily. Despite decades of discussion, we are not acting fast or bold enough”.

But what can we, in the communications industry, do? My passionate belief is that we have a crucial role to fulfil, bringing the public with us on this journey. ?COP must not become another echo chamber, in which the already-converted vent their despair; it needs to be a loudspeaker, through which experts convert the world and leaders inspire change. Helping people understand how the climate crisis is already threatening, indeed destroying, their health is one of the most powerful ways in which we can do that. We must use our skills to help make this real for each nation, for each community and for each family. We must help communities to tell their own stories rather than acting as their narrators. Our task is to change the climate narrative from a series of disasters that are happening to other people, elsewhere in the world, to a global crisis whose impacts are being felt here and now.? Because, just as the climate crisis threatens the health of us all, only the actions of us all can stop it.