Abstract

Motivated by a growing recognition of the climate emergency, reflected in the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), we outline untapped opportunities to improve health through ambitious climate actions in cities. Health is a primary reason for climate action yet is rarely integrated in urban climate plans as a policy goal. This is a missed opportunity to create sustainable alliances across sectors and groups, to engage a broad set of stakeholders, and to develop structural health promotion. In this statement, we first briefly review the literature on health co-benefits of urban climate change strategies and make the case for health-promoting climate action; we then describe barriers to integrating health in climate action. We found that the evidence-base is often insufficiently policy-relevant to be impactful. Research rarely integrates the complexity of real-world systems, including multiple and dynamic impacts of strategies, and consideration of how decision-making processes contend with competing interests and short-term electoral cycles. Due to siloed-thinking and restrictive funding opportunities, research often falls short of the type of evidence that would be most useful for decision-making, and research outputs can be cryptic to decision makers. As a way forward, we urge researchers and stakeholders to engage in co-production and systems thinking approaches. Partnering across sectors and disciplines is urgently needed so pathways to climate change mitigation and adaptation fully embrace their health-promoting potential and engage society towards the huge transformations needed. This commentary is endorsed by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) and the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and accompanies a sister statement oriented towards stakeholders (published on the societies’ websites).

Highlights

  • MRC Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK; Landmark Centre, Harvard T.H

  • We argue that the consideration of health, of structural approaches to health promotion, is an untapped opportunity in climate action with the potential to significantly improve health outcomes

  • Urban climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies have the potential to prevent worsening global warming, and by doing so, to promote population health. We focus this commentary on urban climate change strategies, noting, that the urban–rural dichotomy is to a certain extent artificial

Read more

Summary

Climate Change and Health Co-Benefits Research

There have been efforts to develop new tools for assessing the health impact of climate and other policies which have broadened our understanding of climatehealth co-benefits. Health impact assessments (HIAs) are a practical approach used to judge the potential health effects of a policy, programme or project on a population, on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, Along with related models such as comparative risk assessments or integrated HIAs [25], these tools have demonstrated the potential health co-benefits of urban climate strategies that were highlighted in the previous section [3]. This policy-oriented research has not been followed by widespread policy action [26–28]. Mayors, and their staff able to access high-quality research that is translated in a way that communicates to them and to their constituents effectively?

Producing Relevant Evidence
Research Translation
A Way Forward
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.