TY - UNPB

T1 - Climate Mainstreaming: Climate and health policy

AU - Haas, Willi

AU - Lampl, Christina

AU - Aigner, Ernest

AU - Schmidt, Andrea

PY - 2023/2/10

Y1 - 2023/2/10

N2 - The climate crisis constitutes the largest threat to public health in the 21st century, from which several climate-sensitive direct or indirect health risks emerge. It is noteworthy that the health impact of the climate crisis disproportionately falls on groups with lower socio-economic status, which generally have lower adaptation capacities. There is, however, a huge potential for health policy to contribute to climate change mitigation and for climate policy to reduce disease burden. Policymakers are becoming increasingly aware of the link between health and climate. This nexus is further correlated with inequality, the latter here understood as the unequal distribution of social, political, economic and environmental resources, and health inequity. At the EU level, commitments to reducing net GHG emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990, by the year 2030 and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 have been formulated within the framework of the European Green Deal and the Fit-for-55 package. Yet, neither does the European Green Deal consider health explicitly, nor does the EU4Health Programme include climate change mitigation or adaptation among its key objectives. Against this background, this policy brief explores risks associated with acting in silos and thus neglecting the interactions between climate, health and inequality, and looks for potential synergies when establishing a sound cli- mate-health-inequality nexus. It further addresses the question as to where the barriers lie for successfully exploiting these synergies between health and climate policy fields. This research showcases potential pitfalls when climate policy does not con- sider health, and when health policy does not take into account interactions with climate change. It also demonstrates that the interdependencies of climate and health create various opportunities. This policy brief is concluded with recommendations for policymakers with a view to addressing health, climate and ine- quality in an integrated manner. These recommendations seek to strengthen the climate-health-equality-nexus in the EU.

AB - The climate crisis constitutes the largest threat to public health in the 21st century, from which several climate-sensitive direct or indirect health risks emerge. It is noteworthy that the health impact of the climate crisis disproportionately falls on groups with lower socio-economic status, which generally have lower adaptation capacities. There is, however, a huge potential for health policy to contribute to climate change mitigation and for climate policy to reduce disease burden. Policymakers are becoming increasingly aware of the link between health and climate. This nexus is further correlated with inequality, the latter here understood as the unequal distribution of social, political, economic and environmental resources, and health inequity. At the EU level, commitments to reducing net GHG emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990, by the year 2030 and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 have been formulated within the framework of the European Green Deal and the Fit-for-55 package. Yet, neither does the European Green Deal consider health explicitly, nor does the EU4Health Programme include climate change mitigation or adaptation among its key objectives. Against this background, this policy brief explores risks associated with acting in silos and thus neglecting the interactions between climate, health and inequality, and looks for potential synergies when establishing a sound cli- mate-health-inequality nexus. It further addresses the question as to where the barriers lie for successfully exploiting these synergies between health and climate policy fields. This research showcases potential pitfalls when climate policy does not con- sider health, and when health policy does not take into account interactions with climate change. It also demonstrates that the interdependencies of climate and health create various opportunities. This policy brief is concluded with recommendations for policymakers with a view to addressing health, climate and ine- quality in an integrated manner. These recommendations seek to strengthen the climate-health-equality-nexus in the EU.

M3 - Expert opinions

T3 - FEPS Policy Brief

BT - Climate Mainstreaming: Climate and health policy

PB - The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)

CY - Brussel

ER -