More than 46 million healthcare professionals have signed a letter asking the COP28 leadership to ensure a favourable outcome at the negotiations for giving up fossil fuels so that a ‘just, equitable and healthy future for all’ can be ensured.
This is the first COP (Conference of Parties) where an entire day (December 3, 2024) shall be dedicated to health. This shall provide the opportunity to address the health impacts of climate change on individuals and on healthcare systems. The letter assumes importance as a first look at the draft of a climate and health declaration due to be adopted at COP28 does not seem to acknowledge fossil fuels as the driver of climate change. Instead it only calls for health systems to ‘adapt’ themselves to climate change.
Thus, the letter, signed by 46.3 million healthcare professionals reads, ‘For COP28 to truly be a “health COP,” it must address the root cause of the climate crisis: the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels including coal, oil and gas. We call on the COP28 Presidency and the leaders of all countries to commit to an accelerated, just and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels as the decisive path to health for all. Ending our dangerous dependency on fossil fuels will improve the health prospects of future generations and will save lives’.
On the role of fossil fuels it reads, ‘…phase-out will limit global warming, thereby protecting health from the devastating impacts of extreme weather, and preventing further ecological degradation and biodiversity loss. Failing to do so will lead to overwhelming health consequences, as well as the loss of key natural resources and ecosystem services….thereby undermining One Health and planetary health’.
As per the letter, air pollution caused in part by burning fossil fuels causes 7 million premature deaths annually and the economic cost of this amounts over $8.1 trillion which is 6.1 per cent of global GDP (2019 calculation). Improved air quality will reduce cancers, heart disease, neurological conditions including stroke, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
It also emphasises a just transition that shall offer the opportunity all states access to non-polluting, affordable, reliable, accessible and resilient clean energy.
The Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health, India is a signatory to the letter, in addition to numerous doctors in their individual capacities.
Dr Naveen Thacker, President, International Paediatric Association said, “Championing genuine climate progress means committing to a swift, equitable phase-out of fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy. This is the definitive path to health for all”.
Dr Arvind Kumar, Chairman, Institute of Chest Surgery-Chest Onco Surgery and Lung Transplantation, Medanta Hospital, said, “As a lung surgeon, I witness the devastating toll of fossil fuel combustion on people’s respiratory health every day. I have joined the global health and medical community in signing (the)… letter…Let this day be remembered as the moment when we put people’s health and well-being at the forefront of our climate action agenda. This opportunity must not be lost.”
The COP28, is to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12. The president-designate of the conference is Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, minister of industry and advanced technology of the United Arab Emirates.
