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10 September 2018 | View this email online

Special Issue: Preview of the Global Climate Action Summit


Leaders and concerned citizens from around the world will convene in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit Sept. 12-14. Together, they’ll celebrate the extraordinary climate action of states, regions, cities, businesses, health care, and civil groups, all while calling on each other and national governments to step up their efforts to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Health Care Without Harm is responding to the Summit’s call to action – “to take ambition to the next level” – through a series of events, campaigns, and announcements leading up to and around GCAS. All of our GCAS-related activities will be chronicled on our website at www.noharm.org/gcas2018. This special edition of our Global Climate and Health News presents the highlights, along with how you can participate virtually.
 

Featured News

Health Care Without Harm takes the stage

 
    

Health Care Without Harm will be sharing health care’s climate leadership with the summit’s distinguished delegates from around the world. Our president and co-founder Gary Cohen, along with our board member and VP of environmental stewardship at Kaiser Permanente Kathy Gerwig, will speak at the summit on Sept. 14 during the session “Health: Where Climate Change Hits Home,” mobilizing the health care sector to meet their current targets and further raise their climate goals to protect health.

Another Health Care Without Harm board member and University Hospital’s division chief for general pediatrics and adolescent medicine, Dr. Aparna Bole, will also be speaking during the summit’s “Our Clean and Renewable Future” session on Sept. 13 about the health benefits of moving toward a 100 percent renewable energy (100% RE) future. Bole will also be announcing commitments from the health sector to 100% RE.
 
 

Global Climate and Health Forum



Health Care Without Harm is co-hosting the Global Climate and Health Forum, an official affiliate event of the Global Climate Action Summit, on Sept. 12. The forum will bring together 250 leaders from national and local governments, health systems, public health agencies, civil society, and international health organizations to build the community of climate and health professionals, share success stories of health action for climate, and generate momentum and commitments for action on climate and health.

This special event will be livestreamed. Visit globalclimateandhealthforum.org between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m PT to participate in the live conversation using the hashtags #ClimateChangesHealth and #GCAS2018.
 

Global Climate Health Care Action Roundtable


In collaboration with the Under2 Coalition, Health Care Without Harm is convening a Global Climate Health Care Action Roundtable on Sept. 11 with a small group of health care leaders from our global network and those working in government, international agencies, and the nonprofit sector to foster greater collaboration around climate goals. The two-part meeting will focus on subnational and national efforts for health care systems to contribute to climate policy and meet climate policy goals, as well as how to scale renewable energy across the health care sector.
 

Leading health systems form alliance to address climate change in California 


In advance of GCAS, and amid deadly fires and record-breaking heat waves in California, four of the state’s largest health systems – Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente, Providence St. Joseph Health, and Sutter Health – have formed the California Health Care Climate Alliance. Representing 107 California hospitals and serving more than 20 million patients in the state, the Alliance aims to drive stronger commitments from California’s health care sector to protect the public from the health impacts of climate change and to work with policymakers in Sacramento to support the state’s climate goals.

Step up your advocacy


We have created advocacy guides to help you use the GCAS moment to raise awareness about the health impacts of climate change and to call for bold action.
  • If you are new to Twitter, our Get started guide will have you tweeting in no time, helping to build momentum for #ClimateChangesHealth at GCAS and beyond.
  • Ready to use your trusted voice as a health professional in the media? Edit our letter to the editor template to educate your community about local impacts and to urge your elected representatives to respond to the GCAS call to action on climate.
 

Leading U.S. health systems commit to reducing emissions

Health care is the latest sector to join the We Are Still In coalition, strengthening the message to the world that the United States is committed to the Paris Agreement. The first 19 systems to sign onto We Are Still In represent 763 hospitals, 784,778 employees, and $167.2 billion in revenue across 39 states. We are continuing to gather We Are Still In pledges from U.S. health care organizations leading up to GCAS. Sign on through our Health Care Climate Challenge or the We Are Still In webpage.

Health Care Without Harm will be presenting the health care pillar at the We Are Still In Forum on Sept. 12, which will be livestreamed.
 

Join the Health Care Climate Challenge

Launched in 2015 at the Paris Climate Conference, the Health Care Climate Challenge is a Health Care Without Harm initiative to mobilize health care institutions around the world to play a leadership role in addressing climate change. Today more than 175 institutions representing the interests of over 14,000 hospitals and health centers from more than 24 countries, have joined the Health Care Climate Challenge and committed to taking meaningful action. We plan to celebrate these commitments during the week of GCAS. Learn more about the Climate Challenge and join today.
 

Other happenings around town

Health Care Without Harm staff and partners will be participating in several other GCAS affiliate events across San Francisco:

 


Reports and Publications

Climate-Smart Healthcare: Low-Carbon and Resilience Strategies for the Health Sector.
Download report
The Health Impacts of Energy Choices.
Download briefing paper, fact sheet, and graphics
Health Effects from Coal Use in Energy GenerationDownload report
Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings. Download report
Global Green and Healthy Hospitals: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Health Care Worldwide. A project of HCWH
Healthy Energy Initiative: Clean renewable energy for public health. A project of HCWH
HCWH is a member of the 
Global Climate and Health Alliance

Support Health Care Without Harm


Donate now to support HCWH in our mission to transform the health sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it becomes ecologically sustainable and a leading advocate for environmental health and justice.
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Copyright © 2018 Health Care Without Harm, All rights reserved.


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