Climate change Pixabay/geralt.
July 7, 2023:- Reacting to a statement from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres after the hottest week recorded globally since records began in the1950s, Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance said:
“There is no time to lose – the realisation that such unprecedented global heating is threatening the lives and livelihoods of people around the world should jerk governments out of their business-as-usual reveries – and the only sane way to respond to this climate crisis is by tackling the root cause – phasing out fossil fuels, and delivering a just transition to renewable energy for all.”
“People around the world are experiencing unprecedented heatwaves and out of control wildfires. Ninety-nine percent of the world’s population breathes polluted air. Extreme storms and floods are now regular events, spreading disease, and driving people from the safety of their homes and communities. Climate change is impacting every country, reaching nearly every community. The extraction and use of coal, oil, and gas harm people’s health, are the primary driver of warming, and are incompatible with a healthy future.”
“With the UN Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit in September, and the COP28 climate negotiations in December, governments have got to stop their bickering, posturing, and unmet commitments, and come together to deliver the critical transformations – in finance, energy, transport, food systems, health systems, and cities – needed not just for human health and well-being, but for the health of a planet that can support human survival.”
For more on how COP 28 must deliver on health, see: What Would Make the Next UN Climate Conference (COP28) the First True “Health COP”?
Sources:
Associated Press: Earth hit an unofficial record high temperature this week – and stayed there
University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer
UN says climate change ‘out of control’ after likely hottest week on record
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, Global Climate and Health Alliance, +34 691 826 764 (Europe) – [email protected] is checked regularly.
About GCHA
The Global Climate and Health Alliance is a consortium of health organizations from around the world united by a shared vision of an equitable, sustainable future, in which the health impacts of climate change are minimized, and the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation are maximised.
Find out more: https://climateandhealthalliance.org/about/