Part 3 of the Assessment Report on Climate Change and Health published
30.11.2023 17:03
The third and final part of the assessment report "Climate Change and Health" has been published in the Journal of Health Monitoring. In the final part of the report, researchers examine health equity with regard to the impacts of climate change, the importance of target-group-specific climate change communication, and summarize the need for action based on the recommendations formulated in the other contributions.
“Climate justice in the sense of avoidable, unjust social inequalities in exposure, vulnerability and the effects of climate protection and climate adaptation measures on health inequalities is still little discussed in Germany,” state the authors from the University of Bremen, the Centre for Planetary Health Policy Berlin (CPHP) and the University of Bielefeld in the first of the three contributions.
To minimize the health impacts of the climate crisis, countermeasures must be taken at all levels of society. "These changes should be complemented and accompanied by explanatory science and risk communication to improve their effectiveness and sustainability," the researchers explain in the second article. Based on four surveys from the PACE (Planetary Health Action Survey) in 2022/2023, they present the current state of risk perception and willingness to act among the population in Germany and offer practical assistance for effective climate change communication.
The final contribution to the status report aims to synthesize all the options for action formulated in the individual contributions. The authors from ten institutions (including the Robert Koch Institute) also address the co-benefit approach: Many climate protection measures related to diet and exercise, in addition to their health-promoting effects, also have positive economic, social, or climate policy consequences. In conclusion, the researchers state: "Health-related co-benefits offer the opportunity to contribute as a key factor to a successful transformation. Emphasizing the additional health benefits of climate protection measures also has the advantage that the health-promoting effects are more obvious and tangible for many people than climate impacts, which are often longer-term, have a diffuse effect, and are more likely to be localized in other regions of the world."
The report was produced under the leadership of the Robert Koch Institute and consists of 14 individual contributions from a total of more than 90 authors from over 30 research institutions and authorities. The publication is coordinated within the framework of the "KlimGesundAkt" project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health. The three-part status report aims to scientifically summarize the health impacts of climate change and provide an overview of options for counteracting these effects. The first edition, published on June 1, 2023, focused on the influence of climate change on infectious diseases. The second edition of the report, published on September 6, 2023, focused on non-communicable diseases.