The Lancet Commission on Health and Climate brings together more than 60 international experts as a new commission to respond to climate change, with the resulting research to be released at 00.01am GMT (9.00am AEST) on Tuesday 23rd June 2015. This report updates and builds on the groundbreaking UCL-Lancet Commission published in 2009 when climate change was first described as the biggest threat to global health of the 21st century”. The 2015 Commission understands climate change as a ‘health emergency’. The Commission report includes research and evidence from five working groups, each tackling a particular part of the policy response to this crisis to deliver updates on the scale of the threat, and potential ways forward. With contributions from climate scientists, economists, energy and health professionals, the Commission report presents mitigation and adaptation policies necessary to protect human health from climate change and to promote sustainable development. A series of events are being held around the world to mark the release of this important new research.

CAHA is involved in two events in Australia:

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“Climate Change: the greatest health threat or opportunity?” 

Tuesday, 23 June 2015 – 6:00pm to 8:00pm – Melbourne, Groundfloor Auditorium, Peter Doherty Institute, Peter Doherty Institute, 792 Elizabeth St Melbourne.
Speakers: Nobel Laureate Prof. Peter Doherty, Assoc Prof. Grant Blashki, Prof. Billie Giles-Corti

“Bring me a solution, not a problem: a new Lancet Commission on Emergency Actions to Protect Human Health”  

Wednesday, 24th June 2014, 5.30 – 7.00pm – Canberra, Finkel Lecture Theatre John Curtin School of Medical Research, Building 131, Garran Rd, ANU.
Speakers: Prof Archie Clements, Dr Liz Hanna, Prof Janette Lindesay, Prof Mark Howden, Prof Colin Butler, Dr Peter Tait

MEDIA ALERT 

Wednesday 11 March: Professor Colin Butler, an internationally-respected expert on climate change and health (and a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)), will face court in Sydney tomorrow (Thursday 12 March) following his arrest for protesting coal exports from the Whitehaven Maules Creek coal mine in northern NSW.

Professor Colin Butler is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Canberra and a Visiting Fellow at the National Centre of Epidemiology & Population Health at the Australian National University.

“I have studied and taught the effects of climate change for 25 years and I know the danger it poses to our way of life,” said Professor Butler. “But today, as the government continues to willfully ignore evidence and good sense, I believe it’s important to take a stand.”

Professor Butler faces a possible two years in prison and a fine for his peaceful protest on November 26, 2014.

Professor Butler will be available for comment after the court hearing tomorrow at Downing Centre Court, Liverpool St, Sydney on 0458 973 416

UPDATE: 12 March 2015

Professor Butler was not convicted of any criminal offence but was ordered to pay court costs with a two year good behaviour bond.

He prepared the following statement in relation to his action, arrest, and court appearance:

“In 2009, climate scientists wrote to Australian-based energy companies and banks warning the stability of the global climate system is at risk from the burning of enormous quantities of coal, which releases vast quantities of carbon dioxide, a gas which then accumulates in the atmosphere and ocean for decades. There is a direct relationship between these emissions and global mean temperature rise. Australian coal exports thus directly contribute to future temperature increases.

My training and career have focused on health and the environment.  My first scientific publication in 1991 argued that the stability of the global social system – and thus health  – is placed at risk by excessive climate change. I have recently edited a book with this argument at its core. For example, it is now increasingly understood that the Syrian war is partly related to climate change.

Within a century, I believe unchecked climate change will cause economic and social upheaval on a scale scarcely imaginable. The world community needs to take decisive and rapid action to move to a clean energy future.

Poor people in developing countries are most obviously at risk from this, but many Australians will also suffer, and not only from more severe storms, fires and droughts. Future Australians will also endure living in a world with much greater political instability, with more conflict and with more migration, unwanted by others.

I believe my role in public health with unusual expertise concerning climate change gives a duty of care to people in the future. If I saw an infant left by mistake in a locked car on a hot day, I would have a duty of care to try to rescue her. If there was no time to find a police-person to help I would feel justified in breaking the law to rescue the child.

In the case of these coming disruptions from climate change, I have written papers, edited a book, and given many talks to try to convey the great seriousness of my concerns, similar to this analogy. But this is not enough.”

Isobel Braithwaite and Erica Parker, Global Climate and Health Alliance
in Outreach on climate change and sustainable development

On Saturday, the 2014 Climate and Health Summit brought together leading health experts and policy-makers from around the world. Inspiring speakers – including Peru’s Minister of Health; the UNFCCC’s Chief of Staff, Daniele Violetti; World Bank Vice President, Rachel Kyte; and IIED’s Saleemul Huq – shared their perspectives on the health dimensions of climate change and the political progress needed to protect health.

Public health is arguably one of the most concerning – yet under-reported – elements of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report, in terms of the health impacts which are projected to occur without adequate emissions reductions. However, a health perspective also gives us a reason for cautious optimism, because of the scale of the ‘co-benefits’ of action on climate change for health.

Clean air and water, shelter, safe ambient temperatures, and nutritious foods are examples of what are known as the ‘determinants of health’, and they all are threatened by climate change. A warmer and wetter climate is expected to increase people’s exposure to heatwaves, floods, wildfires and tropical storms, causing multiple direct health effects. At the most basic level, high temperatures increase physiological stress, and without sufficient mitigation efforts now, we could see temperatures so hot that they make it almost impossible to work outside for parts of the year in some places.

Climate change also has less direct effects, resulting from the damage to crops, homes and businesses caused by higher temperatures, changing patterns of rainfall and extreme weather events. Such changes may in turn affect even more people than direct effects, such as heat stress or the spread of infectious diseases, as illustrated by the devastating aftermath of events such as Haiyan and Hagiput in the Philippines, only a year apart. Such impacts – direct and indirect – tend to affect the world’s poorest disproportionally, and those already suffering from complex physical or mental illnesses first and most severely.

Hospitals need to be able to continue caring for their existing patients during events such as these, as well as responding to the needs of those who are injured or become ill. Climate change therefore poses a double burden, increasing the strain on health systems which are often already overstretched. Yet only an estimated one per cent of climate adaptation finance goes towards the health sector.

Of course, adaptation in other sectors also helps to protect health, by helping to safeguard the determinants of health, but also because maintaining adequate healthcare requires access to energy and transport to and from healthcare facilities, for example. However, it would arguably be justifiable to spend a greater proportion of climate finance to ensure that health systems can continue to function, given how highly many people value access to healthcare.

The health perspective discussed at the Lima Climate and Health Summit is something of a secret about climate change, and we hope that events such as this will help to change this, particularly looking towards COP21 in Paris next year. One of the health sector’s crucial roles in this respect is to ensure that policy-makers and the public are aware that many of the policies we need to prevent dangerous climate change are also directly beneficial for people’s health, and that this can save substantial amounts of money, for example through reduced hospital admissions and lower medication use for respiratory diseases as a result of cleaner air. This is true in the short term, even if we ignore the health benefits of reduced climate impacts later on.

Public health concerns are in fact often the major driver for many policies with a significant benefit for the climate, as with Beijing’s planned ban on coal combustion from 2020 for example. Reducing fossil fuel subsidies and increasing those for renewable energy (which is currently subsidised less than a fifth as much as fossil fuels) could help to redress the balance in favour of protecting health and the climate.

Climate change is increasingly being recognised as the defining public health issue of our time. The 2014 Climate and Health Summit highlighted this growing acknowledgment, and demonstrated the high-level support from the health sector for governments to agree a fair and ambitious global climate deal in 2015. During the Summit, the Global Climate and Health Alliance’s Director, Nick Watts, argued that tackling climate change is our ‘greatest opportunity’ to achieve better health. Our task now is to turn this opportunity into a reality.

Posted by Rosalind Simpson for Health Care Without Harm, December 8th, 2014
Health Care Without Harm Europe’s Climate Policy and Membership Officer Kornelia Bagi – in Lima, Peru

Health Saturday at COP 20

The third Global Climate and Health Summit took place on Saturday 6 December in downtown Lima as a side event to the UNFCCC negotiations. The event organised by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (a global coalition working to tackle climate change and to protect and promote public health, of which HCWH is a founding member) attracted about 300 participants who were interested to hear about the very complex threat that climate change poses to public health.

Investing in health

The event provided a good opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues from the impact of air pollution, the role of cities in combating climate and health problems and how the medical community can reduce its emissions.

The healthcare sector has a long history of driving transformational change, for example in terms of mercury thermometers and blood pressure devices, and should play a leading role in combating climate change.

One possible course of action is to divest from fossil fuels. We have seen a few good examples – including the recent decision by the British Medical Association to end its investment in fossil fuels – but there is still room for improvement. The first ever Global Divestment Day will take place on 13 February 2015. By joining this initiative the health sector would show leadership and also help raise the profile of divestment as a key tool in moving towards clean energy.

Speaking of clean energy, the health sector has already come a long way in reducing its carbon footprint by investing in renewables and energy efficiency. If you would like to learn more about best practices from Germany and the UK, sign up for our upcoming (and free) webinar onClean Energy Strategies for Hospitals on December 17th.

Educate and advocate 

As was reiterated during the meeting, climate change is not a scientific mystery; we know the extent, the effects, the courses and have a pretty good idea about what to expect in the next few decades. It is neither an economic matter nor a technology issue, but an educational challenge. Climate change action has a limited impact on economic growth but inaction will likely have severe consequences. And that’s why the health sector has the moral obligation to act by educating the public and also by standing up to policy makers. And that’s exactly what the future generation of health professionals have just done.

During the conference a delegate from Brazil announced that they have suggested noting health co-benefits of mitigation policies in the draft text of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), notably in Articles 30 (a) and 31 (d). The same text proposal was submitted by Australia and Canada. This subsequently received support from the US, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia as a result of the hard work of the delegation of theInternational Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA).  As representatives of the global medical profession of the future, they advocate for the greater inclusion of health within the UNFCCC negotiations.

Coming up next

On Monday 8 December, health remains high on the agenda as the WHO side event on ‘Protecting Health, Fighting Climate Change’ is to take place in the afternoon (Lima time). Check back tomorrow for another COP 20 Diary post with details on this event and other health-related developments in Lima.

– Kornelia Bagi, Climate Policy and Membership Officer, HCWH Europe

Protecting health from climate change: what’s needed? 

Held at the University of NSW in Sydney on the 25th November 2014, this public seminar revealed the extent to which the health of local and global communities is increasingly threatened by climate change. It featured expert speakers on climate and health, policy shortfalls, technological and political solutions and the role of divestment in limiting national and global emissions.

If you missed out on this event you can watch the presentations below 

– Prof Melissa Haswell: Re-aligning our relationship with the environment in policy and decision making 

– Prof Lesley Hughes: Climate change and human health

– Prof Mark Diesendorf: Replacing fossil fuels with renewables- what’s possible? 

– Trevor Thomas: Strategies to constrain growth in emissions – divestment

– Prof Peter Sainsbury: Reports from the 2014 WHO Health & Climate Conference & 2014 UN Climate Summit

Greening the healthcare sector Think Tank

14 October 2014
Mater Hospital, Brisbane 

A discussion by the health sector about accelerating progress towards sustainable healthcare and hospital practices

You can now download the full report 

Background

The third annual Think Tank provided the opportunity for the health care sector to discuss case studies of change, national and international opportunities for collaboration, and contribute to a discussion to accelerate progress towards sustainable healthcare and hospital practices.

The Think Tank was hosted by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association and Climate and Health Alliance in partnership with the international coalition of health care organisations, the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network. The meeting was held on 14 October 2014 at the Mater Health Services in Brisbane. The 30 participants were from 25 organisations including hospitals, health care services and peak bodies, state government health departments, professional associations, universities and advocacy groups.

Think tank results

• Enabled presentation and discussion of key issues including engagement of management and staff; waste and utility management; data management and reporting
• Highlighted successful case studies and opportunities for national and international collaboration
• Enabled knowledge sharing and networking amongst participants
• Identified and prioritised a set of challenges for consideration by AHHA and CAHA
• Raised awareness of greening health care issues and meeting outputs amongst broader health care stakeholders through social media.

Common factors that can support success

1. Behavioural change will begin with a change in thinking – move from a medical to social model of health
2. Imperative to have executive support which is then also reflected in strategy and planning
3. Imperative to have multiple ways to engage staff but this needs to be backed by support for them to act
4. Network to share innovation, success, research, learning: someone, somewhere is tackling your problem
5.  ‘Waste’ is an effective starting point enabling tangible gains that can leverage support
6. Lack of a definition of ‘sustainable healthcare’ for use by the sector
7. A perceived disconnect between sustainability and healthcare resulting in low priority for sustainability
8. Gaining support within health care organisations and across the sector
9. Obtaining long term, external funding for sustainability activities

Top challenges identified by participants

1. Lack of a definition of ‘sustainable healthcare’ for use by the sector
2. A perceived disconnect between sustainability and healthcare resulting in low priority for sustainability
3. Gaining support within health care organisations and across the sector
4. Obtaining long term, external funding for sustainability activities

Presentations

1. Engaging staff to achieve institution-wide sustainability goals
2. Sustainable futures for rural healthcare
3. Global Green & Healthy Hospitals Connect: A platform for global collaboration to accelerate low carbon transformation in healthcare
4. Advances in water and waste management
5. What is the Australasian Healthcare Infrastructure Alliance doing to promote environmental sustainability?
6. Snapshot of Victoria’s environmental data management system

It is with great sadness that CAHA received news of Professor Emeritus A.J. (Tony) McMichael’s death last week from complications associated with influenza.

It is no understatement to say the climate and health world globally is reeling from the loss of a giant among men, a visionary intellectual, public health champion and extraordinary human being.

His colleague and friend Professor Colin Butler has penned the following blog, which is being updated with tributes: click to read the blog

Melissa Sweet from Croakey has written the following blog, which is also being updated: click here to read

The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, Environmental Health Perspectives are all planning obituaries.

CAHA Convenor Fiona Armstrong writes:
“Like many others, I was inspired to work in climate and health from reading Tony’s research. I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to have had the benefit of his wise counsel since CAHA was established in 2010. He was a quiet champion of CAHA’s work, an inspiration and guide.”

Watch this video of Tony’s speech at the launch of the CAHA/The Climate Institute report, Our Uncashed Dividend, in 2012 here

Fiona wrote the following post about the festschrift, held in his honour at ANU, in 2012: click here

A profile here, published some time ago, captures some of the achievements of this extraordinary man.