Health groups pick fossil fuel phaseout as top priority at COP 28

What will success at COP 28 look like for the health sector? This was the question The Lancet Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton asked panelists at the launch last week of the Lancet Countdown report, which provides a grim picture of the health consequences of the world's failures to curb climate change. While health is a core theme of this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 28, Horton warned of the “danger of healthwashing.” The concern is that the Health Day at COP 28 could focus on adaptation and health care resilience and distract away from mitigation, which many in the health community argue is needed. According to a report by Health Policy Watch last month, a draft of the climate and health ministerial declaration expected to come out of COP 28 focuses on adaptation and makes no mention of fossil fuels. “The United Arab Emirates is not exactly a neutral country with respect to fossil fuels. And there is a real concern that the whole of COP 28 is going to focus on adaptation, and dodge the bullet, so to speak, about mitigation,” Horton said. He added there has been evidence that some COP 28 participants “have been cautious about pushing mitigation messages knowing that the UAE will not particularly welcome those.” Conference host UAE has appointed Sultan Al Jaber as president of this year’s COP 28. Climate change campaigners contested the decision, arguing conflict of interest as Al Jaber also heads the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, one of the world's largest oil companies. According to new data reported by The Guardian, the company currently has the largest oil and gas production expansion plans in the world. The Lancet Countdown report reveals that the production plans of the world’s 20 largest oil and gas companies — including ADNOC — would generate greenhouse gas emissions exceeding their annual share as per the Paris Agreement by 173% in 2040. While calling for more resources for adaptation, health campaigners have made clear the need to phase out fossil fuels for the benefit of public health. Over 46 million health professionals signed a letter early this month addressed to the UAE COP presidency demanding that countries commit to “an accelerated, just and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels as the decisive path to health for all.” The burning of fossil fuels is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. But the Lancet Countdown report highlights how the world is moving in the “wrong direction” when it comes to curbing fossil fuel use. Apart from companies’ expansion of oil and gas production, private banks have also increased lending for fossil fuels, reaching $572 billion. A large chunk of countries are still subsidizing fossil fuels. This doesn’t bode well for the health of people and the planet. Already, the world is on track for 2.7 degrees Celsius of heating by 2100. The report projects that if temperatures rise to 2 degrees Celsius, heat-related deaths will increase by 320% by mid-century, as well as the spread of infectious diseases. Panelists at the Lancet Countdown launch reiterated the importance of mitigation. Maria Neira, director of the environment, climate change and health department at the World Health Organization, said the goal is for both mitigation and adaptation. Cathryn Tonne, co-director of the Lancet Countdown in Europe, said that in her personal view, success at COP 28 means getting “very concrete and ambitious timelines on how we're going to transition away from fossil fuels.” She added it would be “really disappointing to see the emphasis placed exclusively on adaptation in this COP” given that current policies put the world on track to more warming up to nearly 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. “Adaptation to this level of heating is going to be extremely challenging and costly. We're already struggling to effectively adapt to the 1.1 degree [Celsius] of warming that we have today. It's going to be almost impossible at that level of warming. So I think it's really an illusion to think that we can adapt our way out of this without mitigation,” she said. Neira, meanwhile, said that while having a Health Day at COP 28 is historic, her ambition is for health to be part of the negotiation process at COP 29. “My personal desire for the COP will be to enter into the negotiation process and making sure that they have … something about health,” she said. That “something,” she said, means stopping the subsidies of fossil fuels, having adaptation funding, and the massive reduction of emissions to reduce air pollution. A priority list Another letter, published Friday by a group of people working in both climate and health, identified the full phaseout of fossil fuels as the number one priority, followed by the inclusion of health in countries’ national adaptation plans, the capitalization and operationalization of the “Loss and Damage Fund,” and scale-up of climate finance. According to the letter, “Healthy climate action is impossible without adequate finance.” The health sector isn’t expecting a dedicated health fund at COP 28. But they are expecting some funding announcements from governments, the private sector, and philanthropic organizations on climate and health around the Health Day. Jessica Beagley, policy lead of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, wrote to Devex that much of this finance should be new and additional, and should not divert funds away from others, be it agriculture, sanitation or humanitarian action, as doing so “would only undermine health.” But within the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations process, she said “the best outcomes for health” will be “solid progress” on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance — essentially a new climate finance target that would replace the $100 billion wealthy countries promised to help the global south with climate mitigation and adaptation. Another is operationalizing and capitalizing a loss and damage fund that can respond to the health and other social needs of vulnerable countries and communities impacted by climate change.