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The UK response: adaptation and
mitigation strategies
Professor Dame Sally C Davies
Director General
Research and Development
Department of Health
Outline of Talk
• Health effects of climate change
• Adaptation
• Mitigation
• Research
– Living with Environmental Change
Research Programme
Health Effects of Climate Change
(IPCC 4th Report)
Health Effects of Climate Change
•
Heatwave-related health problems
•
Air pollution – Respiratory &
Cardiovascular effects
•
Flooding / mental health
consequences
•
Infectious / vector-borne diseases
•
Sunburn, skin cancer
•
Water & Food shortages
•
Extreme weather-related events
(injuries/death)
•
But, decrease in cold-related illness &
deaths
Adaptation – current plans
Heatwave
National Heatwave Plan
DH (annually since 2004)
Flooding
NHS Emergency Planning Guidance
DH/HPA (2009)
Food-borne disease
‘Bugs like it hot’ campaign
Food Standards Agency (2007)
Air Pollution
UK Air Quality Strategy
Department for Environment,
Food & Rural Affairs (2007)
Climate Change Act (2008) and
Adaptation Planning
• Targets - Reduction of UK carbon emissions by at
least 34% by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050, (1990
baseline levels
• Accountability - Committee on Climate Change
(CCC) and Sub Committee on Adaptation
• Action plans – Key public bodies and utilities
companies required to have plans and Government
Departments to publish Climate Change Plans in
Spring 2010
• Evidence - UK Climate Projections published 2009
Mitigation – ‘Good Corporate Citizen’
•
The NHS
– biggest business in England
– contributes approx 25% of the public
sector’s total carbon emissions
– 1 in 20 journeys in the UK associated
with the NHS
Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices
Easier (DH 2004)
•
NHS Energy and Carbon Efficiency Targets
(£100m Energy Efficiency Sustainability Fund)
•
‘The Health Impact of Climate Change Promoting Sustainable Communities’
(DH 2008)
Measure and manage:
The carbon footprint of NHS England
(c. 20 million tonnes carbon dioxide eq p.a.)
Figure 1a - 2004 NHS England Carbon/CO2 Emissions
Primary Sector Breakdown
Procurement:
supply chain
activities of
companies
producing
goods and
services
= c. 60%
Travel: patients, staff,
visitors = c.20%
18%
Travel
59%
22%
energy use
Buildingheating,
Energy:
lighting, hot water,
Procurementcooling =
ventilation,
c. 20%
NHS Sustainable Development Unit
• Helps the NHS in England fulfil
its potential as a leading
sustainable and low-carbon
organisation
• NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy
(2009 - building design, transport,
waste, food, water & energy use)
• Fit for the Future (2009 - Scenarios
for low-carbon healthcare 2030)
‘Climate Change is Global’
• ‘Health is Global’ - A UK Government
Strategy, 2008-13.
• UK co-chairs the WHO (Europe)
Climate Change Task Force, to
develop a Framework for Action on
Climate Change and Health.
• WHO European Environment and
Health Ministerial Conference,
Parma, 2010
The LWEC partnership brings together 20 UK organisations funding, undertaking and using
environmental research to accelerate the delivery of research on environmental change into
policy and business.
LWEC Objectives
A. To predict the impacts of climate change and to promote sustainable
solutions through mitigation and adaptation
B. To manage ecosystem services for human well-being and to protect the
natural environment as it changes
How to
How topoverty and minimise waste by
C. To promote human well-being, alleviate
increase the
How
to deliver supply of food
ensure
ensuring
a sustainable
andfood,
water
resilience of
a low carbon
water and
D. To protect
human, plant and animal
health from diseases, vulnerable
pests and
society?
human
people,
environmental hazards
security?
places and
E. To make infrastructure, the built environment and transport
systems resilient
infrastructure
to environmental change
?
F. To understand how people respond to a changing environment and develop
thriving, cohesive and informed communities
• is helping to maximize the
policy impact of scientific
advances
• is providing solutions to the
challenge of environmental
change
• aims to produce world class
science that meets the needs
of society
Reducing carbon emissions in
research
• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has
established an expert committee to produce guidelines
for reducing carbon emissions in research
• Recent BMJ publication showed most of carbon
emissions in RCTs is due to travel (K Lyle et al. BMJ
2009 339 4187)
• estimate average CO2 emission of randomised trials is
78.4 tonnes
Thank you
Professor Dame Sally C Davies
Director General
Research and Development
Department of Health