WHO Report: Six Climate and Health Actions Could Save 1.56 Million Lives a Year
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report titled Global benefits and costs of prioritized actions on climate change and health.
It found that scaling up six actions could prevent about 1.56 million deaths every year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 16.67 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent every year.
The six actions are: heat-health warning systems, climate-resilient drinking water, basic sanitation, hand hygiene, cleaner household energy (clean cooking and lighting), and fiscal policies to price fossil fuels efficiently, including removing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
For the five actions whose costs could be measured, every $1 spent brings about $24 in benefits (range $8 to $36). Heat-health warning systems gave the highest return, about $835 for every $1.
Fossil fuel pricing reform gave the largest total gain, about $3.04 trillion a year in welfare benefits. All six actions together could bring about $3.92 trillion in welfare benefits and $5.44 trillion in fiscal (government revenue) benefits a year.
WHO said low- and middle-income countries would gain the most, and asked governments to put health at the centre of climate policy and climate negotiations.
Climate Change and Health
Climate change is the long-term warming of the Earth and the change in weather patterns, mainly because humans burn coal, oil and gas. This warming does not only hurt glaciers, forests and farms. It also hurts people's bodies: through heat, polluted air, dirty water, more mosquitoes and less food. That is why WHO calls the climate crisis a health crisis. Studying "climate change and health" means understanding how a warmer planet makes people sick, and what can be done about it.
The new WHO report puts numbers on the climate and health link. It shows that six practical actions, from heat warnings to clean cooking and fossil fuel pricing, could save about 1.56 million lives a year and pay back many times their cost. It gives countries, including India, evidence to fund climate-health actions through programmes like NPCCHH.
Heatwave in India: IMD Criteria and Heat Action Plans
A heatwave is a spell of unusually high temperature, much hotter than normal for that place and season, lasting for some days. India's heatwave season is mainly March to June. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares heatwaves using fixed rules, and cities and states respond with Heat Action Plans (HAPs): early warnings, public awareness, cool shelters and hospital preparedness.
Heat-health warning systems, the core of a Heat Action Plan, are one of WHO's six priority actions. Their very high return shows why India's spread of Heat Action Plans from Ahmedabad to many cities and states is one of the cheapest ways to save lives as heatwaves get worse.
Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform
A fossil fuel subsidy is any help from the government that makes coal, oil, gas, petrol, diesel, LPG or kerosene cheaper than its true cost. Fossil fuel subsidy reform means reducing or removing such help, or changing it so it reaches only the people who truly need it. Many experts see it as one of the most powerful climate tools, because cheap fossil fuel encourages people to burn more of it. Reform also frees up public money for schools, hospitals and clean energy.
The WHO report lists efficient fossil fuel pricing, including removing inefficient subsidies, as one of six climate-health actions. It found this action gives the largest single gain, about $3.04 trillion a year in welfare benefits, because cheaper fossil fuel means more air pollution and more deaths.
- Report: Global benefits and costs of prioritized actions on climate change and health (WHO)
- Deaths that could be prevented every year: about 1.56 million
- Emissions that could be cut every year: about 16.67 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent
- Six actions: heat-health warning systems, climate-resilient drinking water, basic sanitation, hand hygiene, cleaner household energy, efficient fossil fuel pricing
- Benefit-cost ratio (five costed actions): about $24 per $1 invested (range $8 to $36)
- Heat-health warning systems: about $835 per $1 (range $364 to $1,272), the highest return
- Fossil fuel pricing reform: about $3.04 trillion a year in welfare benefits (range $691 billion to $5.34 trillion); left out of the benefit-cost ratio because comparable cost data was not available
- Total yearly benefits of all six actions: about $3.92 trillion (welfare) and $5.44 trillion (fiscal)
- Largest gains expected in low- and middle-income countries