Talk 'Climate change: from a health threat to an opportunity for public health'

Rémy Slama (ENS-PSL)
Discussant: Adrien Hallou (The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Oxford)

Climate change is one of the largest environmental threats to societies identified by science. It is also a major public health threat. We will discuss the specificity of climate change among other environmental challenges of the Anthropocene era, and present part of the current knowledge regarding its health impact. Some evidence regarding adaptation to climate change will be presented as well as regarding attenuation (i.e., the control of greenhouse gas emissions and levels). We will discuss the mounting evidence regarding the huge health cobenefits that can be expected from climate change attenuation – part of which are related to giving up fossil fuels. Thus, in addition of being a threat for health and a huge challenge in terms of risk management, climate change, if societies choose to address it, may offer the opportunity to improve public health. These health benefits are expected to manifest locally, on a rather short-term and independently of the actions of large greenhouse gas emitters (contrarily to the longer-term, spatially diluted and conditional climate benefits), and may thus constitute a strong incentive for climate action.