Leadership and advocacy

There is increasingly strong evidence from experimental studies from around the world that presenting a positive vision of a healthier, more environmentally sustainable common future, is effective in ensuring public support for climate action, and cutting across political divides^37,38,39,40.

Health researchers have assembled a large body of evidence on the health benefits of climate action—and the overwhelmingly negative health consequences of inaction. Health is also central to key regulations and legislation, from air quality and emissions standards, to food standards, to protection of the right to health under national and international law and conventions⁴¹. Health institutions should therefore build not only the applied evidence base, but also their own individual and institutional capacity to engage more directly in policymaking.

At the same time, health professionals are increasingly engaged on climate change in a range of roles, from actions to reduce carbon emissions in their professional work, to organized expressions of support for stronger international climate action (https://healthyclimateletter.net/), to a spectrum of public engagement and nonviolent protests to protect their patients from the impacts of climate change and related threats including air pollution. The large number of health professionals, their direct personal connection to individuals and communities, and their position among the most trusted professions in the world⁴², mean that they have the potential to be among the most powerful advocates for a healthy future through climate action