The Race to Health

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).??

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

• The UK COP26 Presidency this week published a?Climate Finance Delivery Plan?to show when and how developed countries will meet the goal to mobilize US$100 billion per year of public and private climate finance from 2020.??
• The new or updated Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by 143 parties to the Paris Agreement would reduce emissions by about 9 per cent in 2030 compared to 2010 levels, according to UN Climate Change’s?NDC Synthesis report?updated this week. However, all 192 NDCs would lead to 16 per cent increase by 2030, or a temperature rise of 2.7°C by 2100.?
• Governments plan to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 that would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C, according to the?UN Environment Programme’s Production Gap report. G20 countries have directed around US$300 billion towards fossil fuels since Covid-19 started, more than towards clean energy.?
• The benefits of regenerative agriculture in Africa, for society and business, are bigger than expected, the?Africa Regenerative Agriculture Study Group?has found. Sustained use of regenerative agriculture can increase yields by 68-300 per cent, while household incomes for smallholder farmers could rise by up to US$150 per year.??
• Africa saw mounting food insecurity, poverty and displacement in 2020 as a result of changing precipitation patterns, rising temperatures and more extreme weather, according to the?World Meteorological Organization’s State of Climate in Africa report. This is compounding the socio-economic and health crisis triggered by Covid-19 on the continent.?
• The?built environment sector hit a breakthrough in ambition?this week, with US$1.2 trillion of real estate assets under management now part of the Race to Zero. Over 100 SME construction companies in 10 countries, and 20 per cent of architects and engineers, have joined the campaign. The percentage of construction companies who are members has also doubled in the last two months.
• Chile became the first emerging market to?end the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles, requiring that all light and medium vehicles, public transport and heavy trucks sold from 2035 be zero-emission. New smaller trucks used in construction, agriculture and forestry will have to be zero-emissions by 2040, followed by all cargoes and inter-urban buses in 2045.?
• The?Under2 Coalition?of states and regions will now require members to aim for net zero emissions, as it transitions to become a net-zero coalition by 2050.
• London Mayor Sadiq Khan?is the new chair of C40, the coalition of 97 cities representing over 700 million people and a quarter of the global GDP.?
• Russia?faces a slow but steady depletion of capacity to absorb emissions through forests by 2040, as a result of record forest fires, ageing trees and felling - but the country is emerging as a leader in forest management certification, according to research by Climate Chance.?
• About 12 million people were employed in the global renewable energy sector in 2020, up from 7.3 million in 2012, according to the?International Renewable Energy Agency. Solar PV leads the way with 4 million jobs.?
• Young Africans?deserve to be a part of the discussion over climate plans and projects that will govern their future, the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change says. It calls among other things, for climate finance for youth employment to be scaled up, for resources to build community resilience and unlock green jobs, and for the integration of African youth in climate negotiations.?
• The High-Level Climate Champions and Marrakech Partnership have published?guiding principles for climate-aligned hydrogen development, to help firms, governments and communities manage complex issues such as emissions accounting, health and socioeconomic equity and to streamline the production of low- and zero-carbon hydrogen.?
• What investors need to know about COP26: a?podcast by the Principles for Responsible Investment, looking at policy expectations for key markets and how to protect the world’s most at-risk communities.

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

• State of Climate Action 2021, WRI: 28 October?
• Launching the Global Net-Zero Standard, SBTi: 28 October?
• TED Countdown Global Livestream: 30 October?
• G20 Leaders’ Summit, hosted by Italy: 30-31 October, Rome?
• COP26, hosted by the UK and Italy: 31 October-12 November, Glasgow?
• Marrakech Partnership and Champions events at COP 26: 31 October-12 November, Glasgow?
• Other Global Climate Action events at COP 26, 31 October1-12 November, Glasgow?
• Climate Justice Summit: 3-5 November
• Global Day of Action: 6 November