Climate-constrained healthcare

On 22 June last year, a rare display of tripartisan support for action on climate change was on display in Parliament House in Canberra. Indigenous health minister Ken Wyatt joined shadow health minister Catherine King and Greens leader Richard Di Natale for the launch of a road map for tackling climate change as an urgent health concern.

Its own footprint: hospitals are a major contributor
 to healthcare’s significant carbon emissions.

Representatives from across the health sector attended the event, where speakers described the wide-ranging health benefits of actions to reduce emissions. The launch was followed by a roundtable discussion hosted by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, where discussions were also marked by a sense of collaboration and goodwill.

All three politicians stressed the importance of the report, Framework for a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being, which made recommendations across portfolios, including energy, environment, transport and infrastructure, as well as health. Tellingly, the framework — and the extensive consultation it was based on — was not the work of governments but of a small organisation, the Climate and Health Alliance, or CAHA, and of volunteers rather than health departments or agencies.

Read the story from Inside Story by Melissa Sweet - “Climate-constrained healthcare.”