Global | New briefing: “Energy systems that protect climate and health”

Global | New briefing: “Energy systems that protect climate and health”

Health Care Without Harm is pleased to join other leading global health organizations in supporting the Health and Climate Network’s recently launched briefing on  “Energy systems that protect climate and health.” This is the second in a briefing series presenting the link between climate action and health. 

The paper puts forward policies regarding energy systems that can help tackle the climate crisis while also improving human health, allowing national governments to address two important challenges at the same time. Efforts to limit global heating to 1.5°C …

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South Africa | groundWork releases report on Just Transition, highlights health vulnerabilities and opportunities

South Africa | groundWork releases report on Just Transition, highlights health vulnerabilities and opportunities

In March Health Care Without Harm’s partner in South Africa, groundWork, together with its Life After Coal partners the Centre for Environmental Rights and EarthLife Africa JHB, launched their 2019 report titled Down to Zero: The politics of just transition.

The Down to Zero report examines the urgent need to respond to climate change, create a truly democratic and participatory order, and share our work and the wealth of the land.

Health is discussed throughout the report, including the range of health risks arising from climate change and air pollution, which …

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South Africa | Health sector must join debate on climate change

South Africa | Health sector must join debate on climate change

It must amplify message after reports that global air pollution is behind many deaths

Op-ed by Rico Euripidou, groundWork, Healthy Energy Initiative partner in South Africa, published in The Mercury, October 14, 2019

The time is now for the health sector to join the environmental and climate debate!

A report has confirmed that the health impacts of coal-fired power plants in South Africa create a substantial burden on human health, leading to 2 239 equivalent attributable deaths annually. | African News Agency

For community people air pollution has since the …

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Canada | Health Organizations Call for Faster Transition to Renewable Energies

Canada | Health Organizations Call for Faster Transition to Renewable Energies

Media Release – Toronto, April 18, 2018  The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and nine other Canadian health organizations are calling on the Federal Government to phase-out coal plants with less reliance on natural gas.

“All ten health organizations strongly support the 2030 phase-out of Canada’s coal-fired power plants because of the many health benefits it will create for Canadians and for the leadership it demonstrates in international fora where climate solutions are discussed” offered Dr. Joe Vipond, Board Member with CAPE.  “However, …

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Philippines | Healthy Energy Initiative Presents Health Case Against Proposed Coal Plant in Coastal Town

Philippines | Healthy Energy Initiative Presents Health Case Against Proposed Coal Plant in Coastal Town

The Healthy Energy Initiative Philippines team of Health Care Without Harm – Asia, together with Greenpeace Philippines, presented the health case against a proposed coal-fired power plant threatening a coastal town at a Multi-agency Forum on Impacts of Energy Sources organized by Koalisyon Isalbar Ti Pintas Ti La Union (Save the Beauty of La Union Coalition) in San Fernando, La Union, Philippines.

The town of Luna, a seaside town with white sand beaches and 45 minutes north of San Fernando, has recently been alarmed with the proposed 80-billion …

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South Korea | Health Advocates and Policymakers Convene at Launch of Healthy Energy Initiative

South Korea | Health Advocates and Policymakers Convene at Launch of Healthy Energy Initiative

SEOUL — A diverse group of health leaders, policymakers, and civil society advocates convened at the National Assembly Building on April 5, 2018, to discuss the health impacts of energy choices and commit to the transition from fossil fuels to healthy, renewable energy at the official launch of the Healthy Energy Initiative Korea.

The half-day forum was convened by partners of the Healthy Energy Initiative Korea, including Yonsei University College of Medicine, the Korea Green Hospitals Society, Ecomom Korea, the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM), …

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Global | Lancet Countdown 2017 Report Shows Urgency of Healthy Energy Transition

Global | Lancet Countdown 2017 Report Shows Urgency of Healthy Energy Transition

“From 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health”

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change (*) released this week its 2017 report titled, “From 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health.” The report builds upon the influential 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, which emphasized that the response to climate change could be “the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.”

The Lancet Countdown’s 2017 report tracks 40 indicators across five areas, arriving at three key conclusions:

The …

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Philippines | HCWH-Asia Launches #ChooseHealthyEnergy Campaign with Health Leaders and Advocates

Philippines | HCWH-Asia Launches #ChooseHealthyEnergy Campaign with Health Leaders and Advocates

Pasig City, Philippines – As tribute to the 17th Anniversary of the Clean Air Act on June 23, health and energy justice group Health Care Without Harm launched their #ChooseHealthyEnergy campaign –  an effort that calls on the government and the health sector to speed up the transition towards healthy, renewable energy.

The campaign is supported by a number of notable personalities who will serve as ambassadors for the cause, such as Sen. Risa Hontiveros, an advocate for women’s rights and the environment; Former Secretary of …

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Europe | Healthy Energy Position Paper launched at 6th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

Europe | Healthy Energy Position Paper launched at 6th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

via the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), the Healthy Energy Initiative’s partner in Europe

Check out HEAL’s brand new Healthy Energy Paper in English, Polish and Czech, launched at the 6th Environment and Health conference organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Ostrava, Czech Republic! We are looking into the health risks and opportunities different energy sources and also energy savings imply.

At HEAL, our goals are phasing out fossil fuels …

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South Africa | Death and destruction: What’s left out of energy planning

South Africa | Death and destruction: What’s left out of energy planning

The South African Department of Energy’s released Integrated Resource Plan does not seriously factor in the pollution impact of its current and planned energy mix and appears to have distorted the data to favour coal and nuclear, writes David Hallowes, researcher for groundWork (Healthy Energy Initiative’s partner in South Africa):

Pollution from Eskom’s [coal-fired] power plants result in 2,240 attributable deaths each year. And every day, some 11,000 people are physically restricted in what they can do while 2,700 lose the day’s work. The economic impact is …

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