Easy Digest: the links between climate change and health

Part of our Easy Digest series, we explore various themes and their connections to climate change, with the aim to guide funders towards more impactful resource allocation. This short resource focuses on the links between climate and health.

Summary:

• The climate crisis is already having a large-scale impact on people’s physical and mental health around the
  world, affecting more critically those with the least resources to respond.
• The major causes of climate change – burning fossil fuels and clearing land for food production – are also
  key drivers of poor health and premature deaths.
• As climate change worsens, so will the impacts, with undernutrition a particular threat to children.
• The healthcare sector also contributes to climate change, but far more so in rich, industrialized nations.
• It is possible to make healthcare more resilient to climate change, but action is lacking. Philanthropy has a
  role to play in catalyzing the closure of the climate-health action gap.