Climate Change: The ‘Greatest Health Challenge’ of the 21st Century

By Bechara Choucair, MD and Kathy Gerwig 

Just a few weeks ago, wildfires ripped through California, devastating communities and tragically ending lives. Rain has since helped firefighters extinguish the deadliest wildfire in California history, but the memory and aftermath of the massive destruction – a vivid illustration of how climate change directly affects human health – is forever etched in our memories.

A World Health Organization report launched this week on the health impacts of climate change underscores this very point, stressing that “climate change is the greatest health challenge of the 21st century.”

Current warming trends are “threatening all aspects of the society in which we live, and the continuing delay in addressing the scale of the challenge increases the risks to human lives and health,” the report states.

Drafted to support the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the report lays out the science behind the direct and indirect health effects of climate change, which range from higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, to mental illness and malnutrition.

This report is based on contributions from more than 80 health professionals, academic experts, representatives of civil society and international agencies who have worked on climate change and health for over three decades. The material will inform a presentation on health and climate change this month at COP24 in Katowice, Poland.

Addressing the risks of climate change, the WHO report’s authors point to fossil fuel combustion as the major culprit that “results in a large burden of disease and makes a major contribution to the seven million annual deaths due to outdoor and indoor air pollution.”

This latest call to action comes on the heels of the National Climate Assessment, which demonstrated that climate change has already had devastating impacts on our health and economy.

The good news is that the health community is widely trusted and can play a significant role in addressing the risks and health impacts of climate change. “An effectively mobilized health community could play an instrumental role similar to that which it has played in combating tobacco use,” the report states.

We couldn’t agree more.

Our organization, Kaiser Permanente, has a long history of focusing on the environment to improve health. We understand that #climatechangeshealth, and our work to mitigate the effects of climate change is embedded in our operations – in how we manage buildings, purchase food, medical supplies and equipment, serve our members as well as how we consume energy and process waste. In September, we announced a major renewable energy purchase that will allow us to reach our goal of being carbon neutral in 2020.

We’re taking a leading role in this movement, but we know we can’t do it alone. 

We were proud to be the largest health care sponsor of the Global Climate Action Summit, which took place in San Francisco in September. There, we further strengthened ties with a coalition of health care organizations, led by Health Care Without Harm, working to advocate for broad solutions to climate change. As part of this effort, we joined RE100, the California Healthcare Climate Alliance, We Are Still In and Ceres Connect the Drops, among other climate leadership initiatives.

Just as we need to forge partnerships in this fight, we need to address climate change in a multi-faceted way. Focusing on renewable energy is crucial, but we also need to look across the supply chain at how we purchase food and other materials, how we manage waste and use water. “Climate smart” health care needs to incorporate strategies from all parts of our sector.

It’s time for health care, and all parts of our society and economy, to rise to this challenge. It’s about health, and the health of our communities depends on our actions. Without a healthy planet, we can’t hope to have healthy people living on it.