Australian health groups urge coal phase-out and strong emissions reduction

To save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars, Australia should rapidly phase out coal power stations and establish strong emissions reduction targets, according to a coalition of 30 major health and medical groups.

We are conducting a planetary-scale experiment with uncontrolled
dumping of CO2 at a rate that is truly frightening. We have
 to stop,’ Nobel laureate Peter Doherty says. 

A world-first National Climate and Health Strategy framework launched after 12 months of consultation and development by the Public Health Association of Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practice and the Australian College of Nursing, today launched their framework, which they say is needed to avert a health emergency which threatens to undermine 50 years of gains in development and health.

Many of the policy recommendations made by the coalition are “win-win”, which both reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as reducing the social and economic costs of sickness.

Fiona Armstrong, the executive director of the Climate and Health Alliance, said the framework provides a comprehensive roadmap for achieving Australia’s obligation under the Paris Agreement to recognise its citizens’ “right to health”.

Read Michael Slezak’s story on The Guardian - “Australian health groups urge coal phase-out and strong emissions reduction.”

(Climate and Health Alliance Director, Fiona Armstrong, has spoken in Shepparton, brought to the city by a local group, Slap Tomorrow)