December 15, 2023 – More than a dozen Harvard University college, researchers, and college students participated in COP28, the two-week worldwide climate summit held this yr in Dubai. The summit wrapped up on December 13. In its aftermath, a few of the Harvard individuals—together with a number of specialists from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—mirrored on their experiences and the way they assume actions and agreements made on the summit may mitigate climate-related well being harms.

Three Harvard Chan School specialists had been quoted in a December 13 article from Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. Here’s what they mentioned:

Gaurab Basu, Director of Education and Policy on the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE).

What, for you, is crucial consequence of COP28?

The first-ever “Health Day” was inaugurated at COP28. This was a day devoted to highlighting the harms of local weather change, ecological degradation, and air air pollution on world well being fairness. Health professionals from the world over spoke powerfully of the dangerous well being impacts of a warming planet on their communities, and supplied local weather options that can shield well being and save lives. Over 120 international locations signed the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health. Important commitments had been made to curb greenhouse fuel emissions and triple renewable power by 2030.

What do you would like had been completely different?

The planet has already warmed by 1.2 levels Celsius, and we’re at a second the place pledges are now not sufficient. The world neighborhood should come collectively and supply in nice element a binding roadmap to completely section out fossil fuels in an formidable and coordinated approach by 2050. There stays important pushback on offering such a roadmap, and the influences of the fossil gasoline trade loomed over the proceedings. Not solely do we have to ramp up clear power capability, however we should additionally aggressively ramp down using fossil fuels to guard well being.

What are some takeaways that can affect your work going ahead?

As a health care provider, I do know the outcomes of local weather coverage have highly effective impacts on my sufferers’ well being. Climate options shield meals safety, water provide, stop warmth associated sickness and the unfold of infectious illnesses. They mitigate the impacts of the acute climate that causes migration and social instability. It’s vital for the voice of well being professionals to be current and impactful in decision-making areas. I’m motivated to work exhausting to help the capability constructing of well being professionals advocating for local weather options and to translate the well being advantages of local weather options to the general public.

Francesca Dominici is Professor of Biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative. 

What, for you, is crucial consequence of COP28?

My staff revealed a research in Science every week earlier than COP opened that confirmed, for the primary time, that superb particulate matter from coal-fired energy crops is twice extra harmful than PM2.5 from different sources. At the Health Day Opening Session on December 3, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry mentioned our study and made a strong argument that the local weather disaster is a well being disaster. We should cease measuring progress in the local weather disaster by way of levels averted, he mentioned, and as a substitute by lives saved. This was some of the satisfying moments of my analysis profession.

What do you would like had been completely different?

I are usually impatient, and I want progress had been sooner. People are dying now.

What are some takeaways that can affect your work going ahead?

I’m so happy to lastly see that the well being impacts of local weather change have gotten entrance and middle in negotiations. I’m additionally energized by the truth that know-how and information science play an important position in combating the local weather disaster. We now have information and information science instruments, equivalent to machine studying and AI, that may enable us to deal with questions concerning well being impacts, mitigation, adaptation, measuring the carbon footprint of various sectors, and local weather financing. However, there may be nonetheless a lot work to do, and I’m energized to guide these new areas of analysis.

Elizabeth Willetts, the Planetary Health Policy Director on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, led Harvard’s well being delegation to COP28.

What, for you, is crucial consequence of COP28?

In the well being neighborhood this was a movement-building COP. We can really feel pessimistic about restricted progress on significant settlement to strengthen mitigation, however it’s value being optimistic that COP28 was a watershed second for partaking the well being sector as a stakeholder group in local weather negotiations. After a number of years of natural organizing, tons of of well being professionals from world wide joined collectively in Dubai to trace and advocate throughout the negotiation course of.

What do you would like had been completely different? 

Food programs are important to public well being and are vital instruments to addressing mitigation, adaptation, and loss and injury. While a big aspect of the well being dialog on local weather change pertains to meals programs, developments on meals coverage beneath the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are woefully insufficient and at COP28 reached a standstill. We want extra funding, and extra consideration from the well being neighborhood, on meals coverage beneath the UNFCCC. One approach we are able to begin is to converge conversations on “health” and people on “food” and “water” – at present distinct siloes.

What are some takeaways that can affect your work going ahead?

Having participated in UNFCCC and different UN setting negotiations since 2007, I see a transparent shift in how the well being narrative of local weather change is underscored by a palpable urgency for actual progress in world collective motion. This is smart as a result of well being professionals have obligations to thoughts the well being of our populations – and that is more and more out of our grasp, with environmental determinants enjoying a big position. Going ahead, the community of climate-environment-health professionals will proceed to develop, which is motivating as a result of it means we are able to maintain increasing the scope of analysis, dialogue, funding, and schooling.

Read the Salata Institute article: Harvard delegates reflect on COP28

Learn extra

Shining a light on the human toll of climate change (Harvard Chan School information)