Implementing public health policies that also include climate co-benefits may be a practical policy pathway to accelerate climate mitigation, according to experts at a pre-COP 28 workshop hosted by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Policy Committee.
Traditionally, efforts have been made to focus on the health co-benefits of policies that address climate change. But climate policies are often hindered by economic and political divisiveness. The group of environment, diet, civic planning, and health experts, including our director Mary B. Rice, suggest an alternative approach: advocating for established public health policies—which have existing regulations and policy guidelines that can be readily supported and implemented—that also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Examples include:
- Improving air quality through stronger regulation of harmful combustion-related air pollutants
- Advancing healthier plant-based public food procurement programs
- Promoting more sustainable transport options
- Developing healthier infrastructure (e.g., combustion-free buildings)
- Reducing the use of climate-forcing substances in healthcare
Experts recommend public health and health care professionals take these civic engagement actions to advance climate-friendly public health policies:
- Participate in policy considerations (e.g., government advisory committee hearings, such as to the U.S. EPA) to support healthy policies that also mitigate climate change, such as via stronger environmental controls
- Host and participate in public forums on the human health benefits of cleaner air
- Advise governments to implement more sustainable and healthier public food procurement guidelines, such as to the U.S. Congress and the European Union Commission
- Reduce the health and climate impacts of transportation by endorsing, at city government hearings, improved and subsidized public transport, improved active travel infrastructure, compact cities, and cleaner, quieter low carbon vehicles
- Support local combustion-free buildings, including reducing the prevalence of fossil fuel gas homes and businesses at local, city, or state government venues
- Promote the use of lower climate-forcing medications in healthcare
- Advocate in workplaces for reduced carbon footprints in the operation of health and academic employment institutions
Thurston, George D.; Andersen, Zorana J.; Belesova, Kristine; Cromar, Kevin R.; Ebi, Kristie L.; Lumsden, Christina; de Nazelle, Audrey; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark; Soares da Silva, Agnes; Teixidó, Oriol; Rice, Mary B.. Transitioning from climate ambitions to climate actions through public health policy initiatives. Environmental Epidemiology 9(2):p e373, April 2025. | DOI: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000373
