UN
Climate Change
Global
Climate Action
25
May
2021 | |
High Level Climate Champions
Newsletter | |
Zero-Emissions, Resilient Health
Care | |
Health
care providers are dealing first-hand with the
impacts of the climate crisis, treating
Covid-19 pandemic and the illnesses and injuries
linked to air pollution, extreme heat, hunger,
drought, wildfires, tropical
storms.
Now
they’re also jumping into the race to a
healthier, more resilient zero-emissions world
in the 2040s, with nearly 40 health systems,
representing over 3,000 health care facilities
entering the UN Race
to Zero
campaign. They are joining through the Health
Care Without Harm
movement, with a virtual
launch event
on Wednesday, 26 May.
The
health systems are spread across 18 countries on
six continents, including Australia, Brazil,
South Africa, the UK and the US. By joining the
Race to Zero, they are making robust net-zero
commitments, backed by interim targets for the
2020s.
This
matters, because the healthcare sector’s carbon
footprint covers 4.4
percent of global net emissions.
It would be the fifth-largest emitting country,
ahead of Japan and Brazil. On its current
trajectory, the sector’s emissions would likely
triple by 2050 - driving even worse health
impacts from climate change, and more burden on
health care providers.
To
help health systems and facilities begin their
race to zero emissions, Health Care Without Harm
released a roadmap
for the sector’s decarbonization
in April. It charts a
course
for reducing more than 44 gigatons of emissions
over 36 years, by improving systems efficiency,
creating a circular economy and decarbonizing
buildings, electricity, travel, food
consumption, pharmaceuticals and medical
devices.
For
example, all medications carry a carbon
footprint. In China they account for a third of
the sector’s total footprint; in South Korea a
quarter and in Japan a fifth. Reducing
unnecessary pharmaceutical use and turning to
lower-emissions alternatives can cut nearly 3 Gt
between 2014 and 2050.
Efficiency
measures, such as reducing over-prescriptions,
preventable medical errors and low-value care
could cut at least 4 Gt in that time while also
improving health care quality, the report said.
Health systems can learn from each other here.
Within the UK, for example, emissions from renal
dialysis can vary four times depending on
technique and location.
Of
course, not all health care sector footprints
are equal. Health Care Without Harm’s roadmap
makes clear that those in wealthier countries
need to decarbonize more immediately and
rapidly, and shows how low- and middle-income
countries can invest in their health care
development to improve health care quality in a
sustainable
way. | |
Climate Action = Healthy
Action | |
In
2015, the World Health Organization hailed the
Paris Agreement as a “critical
step forward
for the health of people everywhere” - because a
healthy planet benefits the health of people and
the economy.
Bigger
climate ambition is therefore a race to stronger
public health and fewer deaths from air
pollution, extreme heat, natural disasters,
hunger, drought and other climate change
impacts.
A
report
by the Lancet Planetary Health
this year estimated that if nine large economies
- Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia,
Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US - bring
their NDCs in line with the Paris goals, they
will see around 8 million fewer deaths per year
by 2040 related to air pollution, diet and
physical inactivity. Another report
by universities in the US and UK
found that air pollution from coal, oil and gas
is responsible for one in five premature deaths
per year, or 8.7 million.
A
healthy NDC is one that aims to limit global
warming to 1.5°C, and uses mitigation measures
that also maximize health benefits, such as
reducing air pollution from diesel and petrol
vehicles, according to the Global
Climate and Health Alliance.
Chile
set an example last year,
setting out a new NDC that addresses climate
action, adaptation, resilience and Covid-19
recovery together. It was analyzed by leading
public health and environment experts through
the lens of health policy and
improvements.
To
better understand the links between health and
climate change, the Race to
Zero website
is partnering with the Royal Society of
Medicine. The RSM launched
a 10-part series in March, the Health
Emergency of Climate Change,
designed to give healthcare professionals the
opportunity to understand the links between
climate change and health. The next two episodes
of the series are now available to book online.
Leading experts in their fields will discuss
climate change in relation to the
unborn child and children's health
on 25 May and in relation to mental
health
on 8 June.
| |
Breaking Through to COP
26 | |
With
six months to go to the COP26 climate summit in
Glasgow, the UN High-Level Champions for Climate
Action have partnered with the Mission
Possible Partnership
and UK COP26 presidency to demonstrate the need
for systemic change that will accelerate the
transition to a zero-emissions
economy.
For
the same occasion, the High-Level Champions and
the Marrakech Partnership
are launching the updated Climate
Action Pathways
on which these breakthroughs are based. The
Climate Action Pathways lay out key steps
businesses, policymakers and civil society must
take now and until 2040 to ensure a 1.5 degree,
resilient future. Industry will be the first
update released, with the eight other pathways
released in due course, including a new pathway
for private finance.
| |
- The
G7 Climate & Environment Ministers met
virtually on 20-21 May to boost ambitious action
ahead of the upcoming G7 Leaders' Summit in June
and pave the way for success at COP26 in
November. Before the Minister’s meeting, the
UNFCCC
Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa urged the
G7 to
provide funding to developing countries to
underpin strong climate action and for it to be
in place by COP26. The ministers released a
communiqué
after the meeting that included a commitment to
limit warming to 1.5°C, strengthen the
adaptation to climate impacts and scale up
finance and support, while also highlighting the
important role of an enhanced Marrakech
Partnership, the Race to Resilience and Race to
Zero in accelerating action and the
collaboration with non-Party
stakeholders.
- “If
we are serious about 1.5°C, Glasgow must be the
COP that consigns coal power to history. The COP
that signals the end of polluting vehicles. The
COP that tackles methane emissions. And that
calls time on deforestation, by making
sustainable production pay,” the UK’s COP26
President Alok Sharma said in a speech
titled “Pick the Planet”.
- “Our
net zero pathway sees a historic surge in clean
energy investment to US$4 trillion in 2030,”
International Energy Agency Executive Director
Fatih
Birol tweeted
on the IEA’s new Net Zero
By 2050
report. “This creates millions of jobs and helps
lift global economic growth by 0.4 percentage
points a year in the 2020s. The pathway has no
need for investment in new fossil fuel supply
projects.”
- 43
percent of cities worldwide lack plans for
adapting to the climate crisis, even though
awareness of climate risks is at a record high
of 93 percent, according to a survey
by CDP.
However, the cities disclosing their
environmental impacts through CDP are
outperforming the global average in emissions
reductions.
- Asian
cities are on the frontlines of environmental
risks from declining air quality, natural
hazards and water availability, which climate
change will multiply, according to a report
by Verisk Maplecroft.
Soaring temperatures in cities worldwide will
result in productivity losses, higher cooling
costs and heat-related deaths.
- Among
the discussions during this month’s Latin
America and the Caribbean Climate Week,
the World Bank looked at national actions and
economy-wide approaches to a green recovery; the
UN Development Programme focused on
climate-resilient development and how climate
risks and solutions are reshaping sectors; and
the UN Environment Programme talked about
exploring a reimagined future and the
behaviours, technologies and financing needed to
get there.
- Also
during the Climate Week, the High-Level
Champions convened their first implementation
lab energy transition in Caribbean small island
developing states and financing for nature-based
solutions in Latin America, and a Race to
Resilience dialogue on novel finance solutions
for coastal resilience. The on-demand videos and
report for the Climate Week will be made
available shortly.
Enjoyed
this round-up? Keep up to date with daily news
from the Race to Zero, Race to Resilience and
our partners on racetozero.unfccc.int!
| |
- ASEAN-UK
Race to Zero Dialogues,
24-25 May
- Rise
Africa Action Festival,
24-28 May
- El
Sector Privado Ante La COP26: El Camino de la
Descarbonización,
25 May
- World
Economic Forum’s Virtual Ocean
Dialogues,
25-26 May
- Innovate4Climate,
25-27 May
- World
Economic Forum’s Climate Breakthroughs: The Road
to COP26 and Beyond,
27 May
- 2021 P4G
Seoul Summit,
30-31 May
- UNFCCC’s
Intersessional Climate Change
Conference,
31 May-17 June
- World
Environment Day,
5 June
- G7
Summit in Cornwall, UK,
11-13 June
- UK Clean
Air Day,
17 June
- FT
Climate Capital: Building Resilient, Low-Carbon
Food Systems,
22 June
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