The health benefits of tackling climate change far outweigh the costs of investing in decarbonisation and mitigation measures, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report, which urges policymakers to forge stronger links between health and climate policies. WHO estimates seven million deaths worldwide each year are caused by air pollution, setting the bill at more than $5 trillion in welfare losses globally. Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement could save around one million lives around the world each year by 2050 through reductions in air pollution alone, it estimates. The report, published 5th December, argues that the value of health gains from climate action could be around double the cost of climate change mitigation policies globally. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, described the Paris Agreement as “potentially the strongest health agreement of this century” due to the wider impact of climate change on health issues and crucial resources for humans.

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World Health Organization