Researching to better understand the health co-benefits of mitigation

Abstract

Introduction: The Paris agreement acknowledges that climate change is a common concern of humankind, and it respect, promote and consider the right to health. It also recognizes the social, economic and environmental value of voluntary mitigation actions and their co-benefits for adaptation, health and sustainable development. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comprehensive methodological guidance for the identification, conceptualization and quantification of health co-benefits and their inclusion in decision-support frameworks. Methods: The identification of the health co-benefits for the consideration of indirect costs and benefits of climate change mitigation was carried out. Major categories of health co-benefits of mitigation policies in different sectors were identified in the literature, with supporting evidence. Results: Quantification of health co-benefits can enable their integration into presently used decision-making frameworks, such as cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analysis. The rapidly growing evidence that well-planned actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can also bring very large health gains. The most obvious gains would come through reductions in air pollution, but also in other sectors as transport, building and energy. Conclusions: Both climate-sensitive health risks, and the health benefits of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, should be central to any discussion on climate change in particular beyond Paris climate agreement.