How to deal with the health risks posed by climate change?

On January 23, the Air-Climate-Health Integrated Research Program and Exchange Platform (hereinafter referred to as the ARCH Platform) held its annual conference and report conference in Beijing, and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the School of Public Health of Fudan University and other units jointly supported and jointly released the platform's flagship report "Health-Driven Coordinated Governance of Air Pollution and Climate Change: Scientific Research Evidence" (hereinafter referred to as the report).

For the first time, the report systematically analyzes and refines the key areas and indicator systems of the impact of air pollution and climate change on health in China, comprehensively sorts out and summarizes the latest key scientific evidence and authoritative research results in related fields at home and abroad, analyzes the core problems and challenges faced by China on the road to a beautiful China and a healthy China, and puts forward strategic options and solutions for the coordinated management of air pollution and climate change driven by health.

With the in-depth protection of people's health, China's air quality continues to improve and move towards a new stage

In November 2023, the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality was issued, which made a comprehensive deployment for the continuous improvement of air quality, and proposed to start the research on the revision of ambient air quality standards and related technical specifications, which is a major action measure for China to consolidate the achievements of the "Blue Sky Defense Campaign".

"Over the past decade, China has made very positive progress in the field of air pollution prevention and control, which has also brought considerable health benefits. Zhu Tong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Peking University, said.

Although China's air quality has improved significantly over the past decade, it is still one of the countries with high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the world.

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2021 updated global air quality guideline and air quality monitoring data report, 99% of the world's population is exposed to air pollution at concentrations above the guideline.

The report points out that China, like many other countries around the world facing air pollution challenges, urgently needs to continue to strengthen in-depth governance to reduce public health risks. "Today, we are very pleased to see China's air quality continue to improve to a new stage, and the timely launch of the revision of air quality standards to strengthen the leading and driving role of the standards will help to continuously improve air quality and public health," said Zhu Tong. ”

Focusing on air pollution and population health, Gong Jicheng, a researcher at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Peking University, pointed out that key scientific evidence, such as the current status of population exposure, the spatial and temporal distribution of health risks, the relationship between exposure responses, the mechanism of health damage, and susceptible populations, can provide a reference for the study of standard revision from the perspective of population health protection.

Wu Fengchang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, stressed that the study of environmental benchmarks and standards should keep pace with the times and carry out new explorations from the perspective of the interaction between air pollution, climate change and environmental health. Continuous scientific research and dynamic policy updates will make China more flexible and effective in responding to the challenges of air pollution and climate change, and contribute China's wisdom to global environmental governance.

Health is on the climate action agenda, and scientific evidence is fueling a new global consensus

In terms of how climate change affects health, the report summarizes a variety of scientific evidence, highlighting that climate change is affecting and exacerbating health risks in a variety of ways, including the direct impact of extreme weather events such as heat waves, cold waves, floods, droughts and typhoons, and indirectly threatening human health by altering the distribution of infectious disease vector organisms, causing food production and worsening air quality.

Previously, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) set up the first-ever Health Day, showcasing the evidence base and clear impact pathways between climate change and health, highlighting the co-benefits of climate change mitigation for health. It can be said that the inclusion of health in the climate action agenda has become a new global consensus.

At a time when global temperatures are rising at an accelerating rate and health threats are intensifying, China is one of the world's leading "climate vulnerability zones". "China must prioritize climate action to address the growing health risks associated with climate change. Liu Qiyong, chief expert and researcher of vector biology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out.

Previously, the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change 2035 also clearly stated that in the field of health and public health, it is necessary to carry out climate change health risk and adaptation assessment, strengthen the monitoring, early warning, prevention and control of climate-sensitive diseases, enhance the climate resilience of the medical and health system, and comprehensively promote climate change health adaptation actions.

Promote coordinated governance of air and climate with health, and help achieve multiple development goals and path optimization

It is understood that air pollution and climate change not only have the characteristics of "homology", but also produce different degrees of health impacts in different ways, and there are complex associations and interactions between the two.

Kan Haidong, a professor at Fudan University's School of Public Health, said: "It has always been a common challenge for the scientific community and government departments to comprehensively understand and address the damage caused by air pollution and climate change to human health. The report focuses on the coordinated governance of health-driven air pollution and climate change, and puts forward targeted scientific evidence and suggestions, which have important reference value for future environmental governance in China and even the world. ”

"Scientific research in related fields is developing rapidly, and there is more and more scientific evidence based on the coordinated management of health-driven air pollution and climate change. Shi Xiaoming, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that "strengthening environmental pollution control from the perspective of protecting people's health has increasingly become a broad consensus among scientists and decision-makers in the fields of environment, ecology and health." ”

Liu Xin, director of the Environmental Management Program at Energy Foundation China, pointed out that the implementation of the PM2.5 standard limit in China's 2012 air quality standards has contributed to a 57% reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in the past 10 years, resulting in a 21.9% reduction in premature deaths, a cumulative reduction of more than 2.4 billion tons of carbon emissions and a 69% increase in GDP through structural adjustment measures, achieving synergies in pollution reduction, carbon reduction, green expansion, growth, and health protection.

The comprehensive report "Revising Air Quality Standards to Protect People's Health" released on the same day proposes that in the next decade, a beautiful and healthy China should be built with higher standards, and through the formulation and implementation of air quality benchmarks, standards and evaluation systems based on health protection, effectively coordinate health protection and clean air, safe climate, sustainable energy and economic development strategies, and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.

Zhu Tong emphasized that at present, China has clarified the general direction of carbon reduction and pollution reduction synergy, and in the process of achieving the "double carbon" goal and continuously improving air quality, it is necessary to consider scientifically and comprehensively consider the optimal path of air quality improvement and carbon emission reduction. Driving the coordinated governance of air and climate with health can help achieve the synergy of multiple development goals and the optimization of pathways.