Charting a path to health for all at net-zero emissions

Patrick Medlicott - 12 May 2025

There are so many things going on in the climate space at the moment that it is difficult to keep up with them all. My sources of recent information are Dr Catherine Dyer, Bernard Hickey, and Peter Bale from the Kākā - a weekly podcast on political economy, climate change, and international affairs (from Dr Robert Patman University of Otago), together with invited guests each week from other areas of interest including economists and politicians. I believe this is a worthy site of usually peer-reviewed information concerning these topics. I would like to make a plug for the Kākā, which unfortunately is a pay site (but most reliable news these days is). For under $20 a month, one receives a daily briefing and a set of links to other sites (also often unfortunately behind paywalls). Many people might say it is mildly left of centre, and it is certainly not particularly complimentary of our present government. It is available through a platform called Substack, interestingly enough run by a young expatriate New Zealander.

I would also recommend to readers a recently published book by Ben Reid called “Fast Forward Aotearoa”. Ben is originally from the UK, and has been settled in Christchurch for quite a number of years. He has a degree in mathematics. He is what you might call a futurist. It is very refreshing to read mostly peer-reviewed scientific information on climate, artificial intelligence and many other social and scientific subjects. It is so good to read someone who is younger than I and yet prepared to look into the future, not as most of my age group (born in the 1940s) do. One cannot continually look back to a very imperfect past and believe that it is the way of the future. It is simply “business as usual”, which will not work in the 21st century. We owe it to our mokopuna to look forward rather than backwards. Some of the things may never eventuate, however the possibilities are certainly more exciting than arguing about the denomination on toilet doors. Peter Griffin from Business desk says ”Ben Reid may be 50 years ahead of most of us in his thinking, but fast forward Aotearoa presents a compelling case for why we need urgently to catch up.” There is significant discussion about the uses of AI in the future in all sorts of spheres. The book is available online and in hard copy. Dr Google I’m sure will help in finding it. I believe it is money well spent, although some of the future thinking is perhaps over the top.

An article I would like to talk about is called “Charting a path to health for all at net-zero emissions”. It is a comment article from the Lancet, which is a peer-reviewed medical journal but also comments on peer-reviewed articles related to health globally. It is certainly not a left-wing publication by a group of “medical muppets”, so-called by our soon to be Deputy Prime Minister.

Climate change is the defining health challenge of the 21st-century, with record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events already exacting an unprecedented toll on human health and well-being.

Scientific consensus is clear: rapid and deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 are needed not only to reduce the risks of exceeding climate tipping points beyond which irreversible damage occurs to natural systems, but also to safeguard human health, well-being, and equity.

Unlike abstract emissions targets for distant ecological concerns, tangible health outcomes from climate mitigation offer immediate compelling and widely shared benefits, while simultaneously reducing the health risk of climate change. For example air pollution linked to burning of fossil fuels contributes to approximately 5 million premature deaths annually worldwide (other sources have suggested a figure of 8 million and increasing). Resource intensive food systems – driven by high consumption of fossil fuels, intensive red meat and processed foods – are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, chronic disease, water pollution, land degradation and biodiversity loss.

Shifting urban infrastructure away from car centric design towards active transportation (for example walking cycling and public transit) fosters physical activity while reducing fossil fuel use, and shifting towards plant-based diets enhances nutrition and sustainability.

Achieving health for all at net zero emissions demands a comprehensive systems level approach encompassing environmental, social, economic, and political dimensions.

Change relying solely on traditional metrics such as gross domestic product obscures long-term well-being by prioritising near-term economic gains over health, equity, and ecological sustainability.

The United States National Academy of Medicine is launching a commission to develop the roadmap for transformative action to achieve health for all at net zero emissions (the roadmap), a global initiative designed to position health explicitly at the heart of the climate response. Throughout 2025 the commission will assemble rigorous evidence syntheses; conduct policy dialogues, consultations, and expert-led workshops to explore promising strategies; identify key implementation barriers; and understand enabling conditions required for successful action. The process will be grounded in an understanding of socio-economic and historical context. Low income and middle income countries which bear minimal historical responsibility for emissions yet experience disproportionate climate health impacts represent some of the fastest-growing populations and economies. By explicitly harnessing the motivational power of health linking the roadmap seeks to galvanise broad-based global action towards achieving health for all at net zero emissions. The National Academy of Medicine aims to catalyse sustained equitable and meaningful climate action protecting human health and fostering resilience and prosperity for all.

In the current United States situation this may be difficult. However recently many American medical and/or scientific societies have simply decided to go ahead, continue working and publish data despite the present incumbents’ position on climate change.

As a final snippet I draw your readers attention to the renowned Tony Blair (Guardian). This gentleman who has spent recently a lot of time in Petro-states as an advisor, surprisingly now no longer believes that net zero carbon emissions are possible by 2050. All I can say is that this directly goes against the science, as well as the life work of many thousands of scientists.

To finish, my mantra: “stop burning fossil fuels”, “warmer air contains more water and more energy” (as Canterbury and Wellington saw recently), and ”Money corrupts, and big-money corrupts absolutely”.