The Race to Health
Nigel Topping, CMG
Founder Ambition Loop, former UN Climate Change High-Level Champion at COP26, Member UK CCC, NED at UK National Wealth Fund
The race to a resilient, zero-emissions economy before 2050 is a race to a healthier future, with fewer premature deaths caused by dirty air and water, natural disasters, food shortages and other impacts of climate change.?
The health care sector understands this better than many, and is taking action to reduce its?4.4 per cent?share of net global emissions. As of this week, more than?50 health care institutions?have joined the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign through our partner,?Health Care Without Harm.?
That’s 11,500 health care facilities in 21 countries committing to do their fair share of halving greenhouse gas emissions between 2020 and 2030 and reaching net zero emissions before 2050. Among them: the Kerala Directorate of Health Services in India, the international health care and insurance provider Bupa, the US nonprofit health care system CommonSpirit Health and the US private system Ascension.?
This leadership is part of a diverse and growing movement for?climate action in the global health sector, including with national governments committing to decarbonize health care and make it resilient to climate impacts.?
This is important because the climate crisis is above all a public health crisis, undermining progress in health care, according to the 2021?Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change?report released last week. It causes more frequent and intense extreme weather such as heatwaves, floods and droughts; it increases the spread of infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria and cholera; and it exacerbates food and water shortages and poverty.?
In 2020, 72 per cent of countries saw an increase in human exposure to wildfire and up to 19 per cent of the global land surface was affected by drought in any month, it said. Those who contribute the least to global emissions are feeling the worst impacts.
The Healthy Recovery
Deaths can be prevented, and inequality alleviated, if countries, cities, regions, businesses, investors and others come up with meaningful commitments and?policy changes at COP26?to cut emissions this decade, clean up the air we breathe and transition to healthier, more sustainable diets. The?World Health Organization?recently recommended 10 priority actions for addressing the climate and health crises together, including placing health and social justice at the heart of COP26 talks, protecting and restoring nature and promoting healthy, sustainable and resilient food systems.
The “rapid economic reactivation” underway after Covid-19 offers an “unprecedented opportunity” to follow the WHO’s previous?prescription for a healthy, green recovery, the Lancet added. That WHO manifesto calls for supporting nature, essential services such as water and sanitation, the energy transition, healthy and sustainable food systems and liveable cities.?
The WHO also?strengthened its guidelines for air quality?in September, saying that almost 80 per cent of deaths related to PM2.5 pollution - mostly from the burning of fossil fuels - would be avoided if all countries followed them. Air pollution currently causes around 7 million premature deaths worldwide, according to the WHO.?
Health care professionals around the world are calling on leaders to take climate action that protects human health and equity, with 450 organizations representing over 45 millions health workers signing a?prescription this month.?
The health care sector can take seven high-impact steps to reduce emissions by 44 gigatonnes over 36 years - equivalent to keeping over 2.7 billion barrels of oil in the ground and potentially saving over 5 million lives by 2100, according to Health Care Without Harm’s?roadmap?for the sector. Those include shifting to full renewable power, invest in zero-emission buildings and transport, and incentivizing and producing low-carbon pharmaceuticals.?
The pharmaceutical and medical technology sector hit a?breakthrough in ambition?in September in the push to halve emissions between 2020 and 2030, with 31 per cent of major companies by revenue joining the Race to Zero. New joiners, through the?Business Ambition for 1.5°C?initiative, include Thermo Fisher (US), Novartis (Switzerland), Demant (Denmark) and HU Group (Japan).??
领英推荐
The Marrakech Partnership & High-Level Champions at COP26
COP26 is set to see a groundswell of commitment and action from across the global economy, from businesses, investors, cities and regions. And they’ll be sending their governments a loud and clear message: we are ready, willing and able to accelerate and widen the transformation to halve greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience within the 2020s. The full programme of the Marrakech Partnership is available?here?.
Climate resilience is firmly on the agenda at COP26 with the launch of the Resilience Hub. The full programme is now?live?with programming across the full two weeks, the first time climate resilience has a permanent home at a COP.?
To get ahead of the pack and find out what news is driving each and every day,?subscribe?to the High-Level Climate Action Champion's Daily COP26 Digest. Published before 12pm GMT, the Champions' digest will provide a quick bulletin of the biggest and most impactful announcements coming each day and explain why it matters. This Global Climate Action newsletter will also be emailed out every two days, wrapping up the daily digest.
The news will follow the official theme of each day of the summit - from finance, to energy, to nature, to youth empowerment - and keep you in the know of who is committing to what and what it means for the global race to a healthy, safe, resilient zero-emissions future.?
For more on what to expect from COP26, from the importance of making good food available to delegates to the need for trust, watch UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, European Climate Foundation CEO Laurence Tubiana and High-Level Champion Gonzalo Mu?oz at?TED Countdown.?
For in-depth features and analysis, check out new stories every day at?racetozero.unfccc.int. And for all the logistical information you need to know when attending COP26, visit?UNFCCC’s handy guide.
In Case You Missed It
Keep up to date with news from around the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience community, by checking out?racetozero.unfccc.int?for new stories every day!?
Mark Your Calendars
Corporate Affairs & Strategic Communications Leader | Multinational experience across regulated sectors | Current position: Group Head of External Affairs at Howden
3 年Great post Nigel Topping An agenda that we at Bupa are fully aligned with: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6859434454373425152
Great details on how climate and health are linked in many ways.
Philips, SVP & Global Head Sustainability
3 年Excellent blog, could not agree more, Nigel Topping! https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/robertmetzke_seeing-the-bigger-picture-and-taking-action-activity-6856892328674643968-46QW
Consultant
3 年Nigel, a great synopsis. Many thanks. Good luck at COP 26. Hugh
Helping entrepreneurs & private client families achieve financial clarity & wellbeing
3 年Great article! Was worth the read!