Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
The drive to curb carbon emissions — and remove carbon from the atmosphere to the point where society is making a “net zero” contribution to CO2 levels — is essentially a scramble to secure our future on this planet. A new report from Elsevier aims to advance the understanding of research and innovation in net zero and how it supports the drive toward a clean-energy future.
The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration that independently monitors the health consequences of a changing climate. Publishing updated, new, and improved indicators each year, the Lancet Countdown represents the consensus of leading researchers from 43 academic institutions and UN agencies.
By mapping the state of research within each SDG area, this report acknowledges the pivotal role research plays in tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges. It aims to better understand the research community’s global sustainable development efforts and assesses the progress made, as well as unmet research needs.
The 2018 Lancet Countdown report directly contributes to SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure). The report indicates that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Stressing the need for governments to focus on decarbonising economies, in order to reduce rates of cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and reduce risk factors linked to infectious disease and mental illness.
Human health is better now than at any time in history, but these gains have come at a high price: the degradation of nature’s ecological systems on a scale never seen in human history. A growing body of evidence shows that the health of humanity is intrinsically linked to the health of the environment, but by its actions humanity now threatens to destabilise the Earth’s key life-support systems. As a Commission, we conclude that the continuing degradation of natural systems threatens to reverse the health gains seen over the last century. The SDGs provide a great opportunity to integrate health and sustainability through the judicious selection of relevant indicators relevant to human wellbeing, the enabling infrastructure for development, and the supporting natural systems, together with the need for strong governance.
