6th November 2024
A copy of the letter is provided below.
Dear Rt Hon Ed Miliband,
As the 29th United Nations Climate Change conference takes place, we write to you as an alliance of 49 UK-based health organisations to ask you to put health at the forefront of discussions at COP29 and demonstrate global leadership on climate change.
Members of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change are deeply concerned about the impact that climate change and nature loss is having, and will continue to have, on human health, without rapid action. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said climate change is the greatest threat to health. Already in the UK we are seeing thousands of excess deaths, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, poorer birth outcomes and mental health impacts associated with heat waves, extreme weather, and air pollution. At the same time, the delivery of health services are increasingly at risk from overheating, flooding, and other infrastructure challenges. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that every increment of warming results in rapidly increasing hazards that threaten human health.
This COP, we call on you to:
- Demonstrate global leadership by delivering ambition domestically through accelerated action to phase out fossil fuels and increasing investment in the development and use of renewable energy
- Step up to meet international financial commitments to pay for the UK’s global contribution to the climate crisis
Fossil fuels currently account for around four-fifths of global energy supply, are the main cause of global warming, and cause major damage to health, not least in contributing to eight million premature deaths a year from air pollution. The commitment at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels is welcome, but this must be backed up by stronger action at COP29 with progress towards a phase out of fossil fuel power by a just transition to renewable energy, which is fair, fast, and funded. The transformation of our energy system has the potential to deliver a better, fairer and healthier society.
International perception of the UK’s climate ambition has suffered from mixed messages in previous years. It is important that the UK seeks to retain its position as a credible leader in climate action. We commend you and your colleagues for the prompt action this government has taken to drive forward the UK’s transition to renewable green energy. A significant international milestone was reached in October this year as the UK became the first nation to phase out coal power, which is the most polluting of all fossil fuels. The UK must seek to build on these successes and take a leading role to drive international action.
Climate change is driving acute and chronic health consequences in vulnerable nations. Trauma, increased spread of disease, food insecurity, malnutrition, and harm to mental health, drive problems such as poverty, infectious diseases, forced migration, and conflict that spread through globalised systems. Financial support for vulnerable countries, who bear the greatest impacts of the climate crisis despite having contributed least, must be sufficient to meet their needs.
The Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable nations is significantly short of what is needed. As a wealthy nation with a history of high carbon emissions, the UK has a moral duty to address the inequalities between those responsible and those most impacted by the climate crisis. As Foreign Secretary David Lammy has highlighted, Africa receives just over 3% of climate finance flows, and debt servicing alone averages 10% of Africa’s GDP. It is critical that high-income countries meet the needs of vulnerable countries through sufficient financial contributions.
At COP29, we urge you to ensure health is central, recognising the catastrophic health harms linked to inaction and the significant health co-benefits that flow from positive progress. To support this message, we have worked with national and international health leaders to produce the following reports and recommendations that we hope will strengthen the call for greater progress:
A just energy transition for the good of health report, which presents recommendations to maximise the health benefits the renewable energy transition brings including cleaner air, jobs and infrastructure that will stimulate a positive cultural and societal shift that is good for health and the environment.
2024 Lancet Countdown UK policy brief, which highlights a number of areas where the UK could improve health and strengthen healthcare systems. This includes policies to reduce air pollution and make greater use of renewable energies, investing in green spaces to help mitigate against heat exposure, and prioritise improving the resilience of the NHS to growing extreme weather events along with decarbonisation to protect health and meet net-zero targets.
COP29 Global Health Community recommendations. The first ever Declaration of Climate and Health was adopted at COP28 and endorsed by 151 heads of state and government. Through the Global Climate and Health Alliance, the global health community has produced recommendations to enable the delivery of these aims through ambitious actions that protect and promote the health of people and the planet, recognising the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The Lancet and BMJ comment: COP29 must move from stalling to action, which highlights the increasing threat to health from the climate and nature crisis and calls on COP29 to make real progress in agreeing dramatic cuts in fossil fuels, rapid transition to renewable energy, and wealthy countries providing much greater support to vulnerable countries.
Kind regards,
Richard Smith CBE FMedSci, Chair UK Health Alliance on Climate Change
Elaine Mulcahy, Director UK Health Alliance on Climate Change
Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief, The BMJ
Professor Claire Anderson, President, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Dr Sarah Adibi, CEO, Healthcare Infection Society
Rachel Armitage, Managing Director, Nursing Standard, RCNi
Professor David Attwell, President, The Physiological Society
Dr Helena Clements, Officer for Climate Change, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Dr Richard Davenport, President, Association of British Neurologists
Dr Bethan Davies, Sustainability Lead, British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians
Professor Andrew Elder, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Professor Kevin Fenton, President, Faculty of Public Health
Dr Sarah Greenaway, Sustainability Lead, the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (APAGBI)
Dr Mark Harber, special adviser on healthcare sustainability and climate change, Royal College of Physicians
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair Royal College of General Practitioners
Kerry Holden, Vice President, Infection Prevention Society
Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet
James Lee, Director of Operations, Planetary Health Report Card
Dr Sandy Mather, Chief Executive, The Intensive Care Society and Trustee of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change
Mr Michael J McKirdy, President, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
Professor Hugh Montgomery, Director, Real Zero
Tracy Nicholls OBE FCPara, CEO, College of Paramedics
Dr Latifa Patel, Representative Body Chair, British Medical Association
Dr Trudi Seneviratne, Registrar, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Dr Ranee Thakar, President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Miss Gill Tierney, President, Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI)
Dr Katie Vinen, President, United Kingdom Kidney Association
Dr Paul Walker, Chair, British Thoracic Society
Professor Rich Withnall, CEO, Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management