This policy brief touches on injustices observed across sectors, whether as a result of current practices or as a result of poorly managed ‘unjust’ transitions, before sharing examples of just transitions, including from the 2023 Pathfinder Commission Report.
The health impacts of climate change are rapidly accelerating, including due to heatwaves and other extreme events, the spread of vector-borne and water-borne disease, food insecurity, adverse outcomes of non-communicable disease, and mental health impacts (1). Certain populations, including countries in the Global South, low-income communities, women and children (2), older people, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, migrants, and other marginalized groups are burdened with the worst impacts, on account of increased exposure to threats and limited available resources to reduce their vulnerability. The populations most impacted by climate change and its health consequences are often those which have contributed least to emissions (3). These social injustices undermine the human right to health and to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
References:
- Cissé and McLeman, 2022. doi:10.1017/9781009325844.009
- Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, 2023.
- Chancel, 2022. doi:10.1038/s41893-022-00955-z