Offline: Climate—“a common concern of humankind”

Abstract

Scientists reacted to last weekend's Paris Agreement on climate change with restrained optimism. The goal set out in the final document was strikingly clear—“holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1·5°C”. The Lancet's recent Commission on Health and Climate Change concluded that “Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.” But the final agreement left much room for criticism amid the understandable relief that a final document was agreed at all. There are no deadlines for specific emissions targets. Indeed, there are no specific emissions targets. There is no specified date when emissions should peak. There is no plan for how the world will achieve a 1·5–2°C ceiling in temperature rise. Serious action by countries is not required before 2020 and current national pledges fall far short of what is needed to meet their stated goal. All in all, the Paris Agreement left climate scientists anxious. It was too vague on detail and too much the product of lowest-common-denominator diplomacy. And yet such circumspection would be a misreading of the Paris Agreement. Publication of the Agreement is not a final event defining the future of a climate response. It is one step only in a continuing struggle to connect the science of climate change with political and public understanding and action. The final document emerging from the Le Bourget negotiations makes clear that it is up to all those who care about climate change to engage robustly in this struggle. A close reading of the Agreement and its accompanying text should inspire confidence, not anxiety. The next 5 years will not be dormant. There will be intensive further negotiations, technical expert meetings, and high-level events, all building the argument for the benefits and co-benefits of acting faster on climate change. NGOs, the private sector, and academia are all urged to play critical parts in shaping the prevailing political conditions for action. There is special emphasis on promoting public education and participation. By the time 2020 is reached, nations must have submitted long-term strategies for reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions. Regular reports on their progress must be presented to annual Conference of the Parties gatherings. Efforts will be made to strengthen transparency and review procedures over time, with the aim of building mutual trust and confidence. Rules will be put in place for the verification of emissions reductions. There will be periodic “global stocktakes” to ensure promises are being translated into actions. The first will be in 2023, and every 5 years thereafter. A mechanism to promote compliance was established in Paris—an expert committee, whose work will be non-adversarial and non-punitive. The committee will pay particular attention to the circumstances of countries. It will report annually. Financing for climate mitigation and adaptation will be made available for developing nations. The document urges richer countries to scale up financial support to reach a goal of US$100 billion annually by 2020. Does the health community have a part to play in this struggle? Most certainly, yes. The Paris Agreement makes clear that countries, when acting on climate change, have an obligation “to protect people”, and specifically “the right to health”. At a climate and health side event, organised by WHO just before the final round of negotiations, France's Minister of Social Affairs, Health, and Women's Rights, Marisol Touraine, emphasised the importance of including environmental issues in health policy. Universal health coverage, she said, “should be a universal priority”. Hospitals should reduce their energy use, and health professionals should work harder to explain the risks of climate change to human health (“curricula in medical schools are inadequate” to meet this need, she said). The health community can intervene directly in two ways. First, mobilise its vast research capacity to provide solutions to address the climate threat. Second, strengthen independent accountability in countries to accelerate action by governments. On April 22, 2016, political leaders will come together at a signing ceremony to enact the Paris Agreement. What took place at Le Bourget last weekend was a triumph for French diplomacy. It is now up to you and I to make sure that this triumph is translated into public action.