Global | “Reaching a tipping point”: Climate a key issue at World Health Assembly

Global | “Reaching a tipping point”: Climate a key issue at World Health Assembly

Almost six months after she helped broker a unanimous agreement among 195 governments in Paris, Christiana Figueres, head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, came to the World Health Assembly to urge ministers of health to prioritize climate change. Figueres eloquently argued that “working on climate change is [our] best prevention strategy” and that ministers need to use “the health microphone… [to] translate what climate change actually means for real people.”

In his blog post, Health Care Without Harm’s Josh Karliner discusses how climate …

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Global | Health professionals call on G7 nations to phase out coal

Global | Health professionals call on G7 nations to phase out coal

82 organizations from 30 countries representing more than 300,000 doctors, nurses, and public health professionals and advocates are calling on G7 nations to accelerate the transition away from coal to save lives.

Healthy Energy Initiative partners Health Care Without Harm, the Health and Environment Alliance, and the Climate and Health Alliance, along with the Initiative’s health sector partners in several countries, are among the signatories of the Global Health Statement on Coal Plants.

Dignity Health, ThedaCare, Hackensack University Medical Center, and Seattle Children’s Hospital – members of …

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Global | Health sector appeal to G7 on coal – sign on now!

Global | Health sector appeal to G7 on coal – sign on now!

UPDATE: The Global Health Statement on Coal Plants was launched on May 18th with the signatures of 82 organizations from 30 countries representing more than 300,000 doctors, nurses, and public health professionals and advocates. Read more.

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In anticipation of the upcoming G7 Summit* in Japan on May 26-27, health professionals and health organizations around the world are invited to sign a statement calling on the G7 nations to accelerate the global transition away from coal-fired electricity in order to protect public health from …

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Global | Climate Tracker Webinar on Climate, Air Pollution, and Health

Global | Climate Tracker Webinar on Climate, Air Pollution, and Health

The Healthy Energy Initiative participated in a lively webinar on Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Health on April 12, 2016, hosted by Climate Tracker in preparation for the worldwide Break Free from Fossil Fuels Campaign this May.

Jennifer Wang, the Healthy Energy Initiative’s global coordinator, joined speakers from the Laboratory of Experimental Air Pollution at the São Paulo School of Medicine and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), to discuss the evidence on the multifaceted health impacts of fossil fuels, as well as community and health sector initiatives to break free from …

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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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Paris Round-up | The New Climate Treaty and Health Care Action

Paris Round-up | The New Climate Treaty and Health Care Action

COP 21 is over.  Government ministers from around the world have completed work on the Paris Treaty and have headed home after two weeks of intense negotiations.   The accord they finalized, while far from perfect is a major step in the direction of moving the world away from fossil fuels and toward 100% renewable energy in the coming decades.

If truly implemented, this treaty could become known as the greatest public health accomplishment of our time.  Indeed, the Paris Moment may well be remembered as that …

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Global | HCWH Applauds New Paris Treaty and Calls on Health Sector to Mobilize for Implementation

Global | HCWH Applauds New Paris Treaty and Calls on Health Sector to Mobilize for Implementation

“The Paris climate agreement is a prescription for a healthy planet that can address the world’s greatest public health threat. Now we will need to go on a crash renewable energy and low carbon diet that both stabilizes the climate and reduces diseases related to our addiction to fossil fuels.” Gary Cohen, President, Health Care Without Harm

The new Paris climate treaty is far from perfect, but it takes a major step to move the world away from fossil fuels and toward 100% clean, renewable energy in …

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Global | Leading Health Organizations Issue Paris Platform for Healthy Energy

Global | Leading Health Organizations Issue Paris Platform for Healthy Energy

Call for A Global Shift from Fossil Fuels to Clean, Renewable Energy

Health Care Without Harm, together with partners, has issued the Paris Platform for Healthy Energy, calling for a global shift from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

The Paris Platform, endorsed by over 40 organisations representing the health sector in more than 80 countries, demonstrates a commitment to leadership and advocacy for clean, renewable, healthy energy choices in order to protect public health from both climate change and local pollution.

“The most important pathway to reducing …

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Global | Health Groups Call for Clean Energy Ahead of Paris Climate Talks

Global | Health Groups Call for Clean Energy Ahead of Paris Climate Talks

Organizations Representing Health Sector in Over 80 Countries Call for Shift from Fossil Fuels to Renewables, Citing Health and Financial Benefits

Health organizations spanning every continent issued a call today to end society’s deadly and costly dependence on fossil fuels. The Paris Platform for Healthy Energy reflects a growing consensus among health professionals and organizations across the globe that shifting to clean, renewable energy will protect public health from both global climate change and the impacts of local pollution.

With the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in …

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Global | HCWH Supports World Medical Association Call to its National Association Members to Discuss Divestment from Fossil Fuels

Global | HCWH Supports World Medical Association Call to its National Association Members to Discuss Divestment from Fossil Fuels

Health Care Without Harm today applauded the unanimous decision by delegates gathered in Moscow this past week at the World Medical Association’s (WMA) Annual General Assembly to call on its more than 100 constituent member associations to consider divestment from fossil fuels.

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