Health

Climate change and its impact on lung health: a focus on Europe

September 07, 2021

Global

Climate change

September 07, 2021

Global
Elizabeth Sukkar

Senior research manager

Elizabeth is a senior research manager in global health in the policy and insights team at Economist Impact. Prior to this, she was the managing editor and global healthcare editorial lead at Economist Intelligence Unit’s Thought Leadership division. She is the lead on global health projects that help build effective action to develop a sustainable health economy, with patients at the centre. She has led major research projects on universal healthcare, climate change and its impact on lung health, health literacy, self-care, sin taxes, patient-centred care and cancer care. She is also the lead on The Economist Group’s World Cancer Initiative which has led to the development of new thinking in cancer care and is a key moderator at the Economist Impact Events’ World Cancer Series. She has been a journalist and editor for more than 15 years, covering healthcare policy, R&D and science for medical journals and UK newspapers, including the British Medical Journal and the Guardian. Before joining The Economist Group, she was the deputy news editor at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, where she ran the news and analysis desk and was often called to comment about healthcare issues on BBC radio. She also managed an international team of journalists when she was the world editor of Informa’s Scrip Intelligence, a global publication on pharmaceutical and healthcare policy, where she won the Informa Journalist of Year award. Before moving into journalism, Elizabeth worked as a pharmacist in community, hospital and health authority settings, and she maintains her pharmacist registration. She is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and earned a bachelor of pharmacy degree at Monash University (Australia).

Contact

Climate change is a health issue with particular effects on respiratory health. This research summarises the direct and indirect evidence that links climate change to lung health and maps out policy priorities to prevent and curb the effects of climate change on lung health.

This independent report is the result of multiple research phases. First, we conducted a pragmatic literature review of the evidence and policy frameworks across the academic and grey literature to develop an initial set of policy priorities. Second, we convened an advisory board on May 19, 2021, drawn from the academic, climate change, environment and healthcare sectors, whose advice shaped the priorities of the study and the content of the report. Third, we conducted 12 interviews with respiratory clinicians, academics, policymakers and climate change and health experts to obtain an in-depth view of the issues involved. Finally, supporting the research, and feeding into this publication, has been substantial desk research.

There is evidence that emissions linked to global warming have an adverse impact on respiratory health, in particular emissions from combustion of fossil fuels and biomass by power stations, industry, homes and vehicles.

The need for action is recognized by the environmental sector and increasingly by the heath sector and the European general public, who are also beginning to demand tougher action. More awareness of climate change’s impact on lung health among these groups is vital for effecting change.

There is only so much one engaged individual can do in terms of cutting emissions and living sustainably. Mass change is needed, and most importantly the policies and systems in societies—controlled by governments and public authorities—need to support efforts to reduce emissions and tackle climate change.

Increasing awareness among the health sector and the general public of the need for urgent action on climate change is the path to achieving it by putting pressure on politicians to act.

Our thanks are due to the following for their time and contribution (listed alphabetically by surname):
Advisory board members

  • Isabella Annesi-Maesano, research director at the French NIH (INSERM) and deputy director of the Desbrest Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health (IDESP), INSERM and University of Montpellier, France
  • Nicholas Hopkinson, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK 
  • Dan McDougall, senior fellow, Climate and Clean Air Coalition
  • Mariam Maglakelidze, dean of the School of Medicine, Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy, Georgia
  • James Milner, assistant professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
  • Susanna Palkonen, director, European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Association
  • Gerardo Sanchez Martinez, expert in the environment, health and wellbeing, European Environment Agency
  • Paul Wilkinson, professor of environmental epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Interviewees

  • Isabella Annesi-Maesano, research director at the French NIH (INSERM) and deputy director of the Desbrest Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health (IDESP), INSERM and University of Montpellier, France
  • Nathan Borgford-Parnell, scientific affairs co-ordinator, Climate and Clean Air Coalition
  • Nicolás González Casares, MEP, Spain (Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats); member of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer
  • Sandra Cavalieri, urban health initiative coordinator, Climate and Clean Air Coalition
  • Tiy Chung, communications officer, Climate and Clean Air Coalition
  • Gennaro D’Amato, professor of respiratory medicine, University of Naples Federico II; director, division of respiratory diseases and allergy, High Specialty Hospital A. Cardarelli, Napoli, Italy, and member of the G7 International Committee on Climate Change and Health
  • Vijoleta Gordeljevic, health and climate change coordinator, The Health and Environment Alliance
  • Frank Kelly, Battcock Chair in Community Health and Policy, Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, Imperial College London
  • Sean Kelly, MEP, Ireland (Fine Gael, Group of the European People’s Party); member of the Lung Health Group
  • James Milner, assistant professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
  • Gerardo Sanchez Martinez, expert in the environment, health and wellbeing, European Environment Agency
  • Anne Stauffer, director for strategy and campaigns, The Health and Environment Alliance

    Join us for a webinar to discuss the report findings:

 

 

Enjoy in-depth insights and expert analysis - subscribe to our Perspectives newsletter, delivered every week