International health group calls for ban on coal, urges action by governments and institutions

International health group calls for ban on coal, urges action by governments and institutions

Calling coal a “lethal product,” the World Federation of Public Health Associations issued a Call to Ban Coal for Electricity Production.

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Australia | Leading Health Experts Launch a Framework for a National Climate and Health Strategy

Australia | Leading Health Experts Launch a Framework for a National Climate and Health Strategy

In a world first initiative, a coalition of leading health experts and organizations, along with federal parliamentarians, launched a Framework for a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being for Australia.

The Framework follows a year-long national consultation to identify stakeholders’ priorities and concerns regarding the health impacts of climate change and entails seven Areas of Policy Action, some of which include phasing out coal, greening hospitals, and a coordinated approach to managing the health consequences of extreme weather events, such as heat stress and thunderstorm …

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Australia | Adani coal mine is a public health catastrophe

Australia | Adani coal mine is a public health catastrophe

Dr. Kate Charlesworth, a public health physician in Sydney who works with the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA, Healthy Energy Initiative’s Australia partner), wrote an op-ed in The Examiner about the “unacceptably high” health risks of coal mines.

An excerpt from her article:

Coal mines are a health risk for miners, workers and local communities: they cause higher rates of childhood asthma, heart and lung disease, and some cancers. Frighteningly, there has been a recent resurgence in black lung disease – a potentially fatal disease caused by breathing in …

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Australia | Healthcare professionals concerned about climate impacts, says survey

Australia | Healthcare professionals concerned about climate impacts, says survey

A survey conducted by the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Energy Initiative partner in Australia, reveal overwhelming concern among Australian healthcare stakeholders regarding the lack of a national strategy to protect Australians from the health impacts of global warming.

In this new report, more than 130 peak health bodies, unions and health professionals – including doctors, nurses, midwives, public health practitioners and psychologists – were asked to evaluate the health sector’s preparedness for the impacts of climate change.

The results uncovered major gaps and widespread concerns, revealing:

Health professionals …

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Australia | Health Minister urged to address climate change as major threat to health

Australia | Health Minister urged to address climate change as major threat to health

via the Climate and Health Alliance

A report released today by the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) warns Australia will fail to fulfil its obligations under the Paris climate change agreement if the Federal Government continues to ignore the health risks associated with climate change.

Leading health and medical experts say successive Australian governments have overlooked the health implications of climate change, leaving Australians vulnerable and the health sector underprepared.

Nobel Laureate for Medicine Professor Peter Doherty says the inclusion of health in the Paris Agreement now obliges the federal …

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Australia | Report urges health sector to divest fossil fuels and invest in health

Australia | Report urges health sector to divest fossil fuels and invest in health

The health sector has an obligation to divest from any investments in coal, oil, and gas, on ethical, health, and economic grounds, according to a new joint report from the Healthy Energy Initiative’s Australia partner, Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), and Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA).

The report, entitled “Investing in Health,” urges Australia’s 600,000+ health workers — along with health organisations and health super funds — to divest from fossil fuels. It demonstrates the health of people everywhere is being harmed by fossil fuels, and positions renewable energy as a …

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Australia | CCA urged to consider 1.5 degree pathway in climate policy options for Australia

Australia | CCA urged to consider 1.5 degree pathway in climate policy options for Australia

The Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA, the Healthy Energy Initiative’s partner in Australia) has urged the Federal Government and the Climate Change Authority to reconsider and re-evaluate its recommendations for emissions reductions, in light of the 2015 Paris Agreement. This Agreement includes a new obligation for all nations to “pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre- industrial levels”.

CAHA Member groups met with the Climate Change Authority recently to discuss the CCA Draft Report on Climate Policy Options. CAHA has compiled a submission …

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Global | New Solutions Article on Global Campaign for Healthy Energy

Global | New Solutions Article on Global Campaign for Healthy Energy

“From Extraction to Renewal: A Global Campaign for Healthy Energy”

The Healthy Energy Initiative team is pleased to share a new article published in the peer-reviewed journal New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. The article appears in a special issue on “Health, Environmental Policy and the Extractive Industries.”

To download the full text of the article (authors’ accepted manuscript), click here.
For additional information from New Solutions, and to download the version published in the journal, click here (subscription required; DOI: 10.1177/1048291115610433).
For additional resources from the Healthy Energy Initiative, …

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Global | Film Festival to Shine Spotlight on Health Costs of Coal

Global | Film Festival to Shine Spotlight on Health Costs of Coal

International health and environmental advocates will host a mini festival of award-winning short films that highlight the health and social effects of coal. As part of the festival, the Healthy Energy Initiative will be presenting three short films produced by its partners in Australia, the Philippines, and South Africa. Other films will explore coal development in Russia and China. Together, these are some of the largest coal-producing countries in the world.

The December 7th Paris event coincides with the second week of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP21). As world …

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Australia | Unprecedented alliance calls for zero pollution in Australia

In an open letter to all Australian Parliamentarians, an unprecedented alliance of 51 health, environment, legal, aid, union, farming, and religious groups state have called for all parliamentarians to commit to strong emissions reduction targets, stating: “Australia and Australian people stand to lose so much from the impacts of climate change; it is in our national interest to be amongst the leading nations to ensure the world limits warming to well below 2 degrees. A zero carbon pollution future is possible, and it is all of our responsibility to …

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