Our asks

Climate change poses a major risk to health and healthcare systems.

The World Health Organization says climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change on health – from deaths, injury and illness from increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, bushfires, storms and floods; the disruption of food systems; the exacerbation of chronic illnesses; and increasing mental health conditions. 

Doctors are dealing with the impacts firsthand and are calling on the Australian Government to work with states and territories to prepare our communities and healthcare systems for the impacts of climate change.

At the same time, we want to play our part in the solutions. In Australia, healthcare is responsible for 7% of national carbon emissions.  To be effective, we believe Australia must respect and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and centre First Nations knowledge and leadership in health and climate action.

We join many others, including businesses, farmers and community groups, in calling for an urgent transition to net-zero emissions across all economic sectors to address the underlying causes of climate change, with support to affected communities.

The National Health and Climate Strategy

We welcome the Australian National Health and Climate Strategy as an important first step in improving the climate resilience of healthcare systems in Australia and promoting the health of the population.

We are now calling on the Australian Government to fully fund the National Health and Climate Strategy, and to work with states and territories to ensure implementation:

• Is guided by First Nations knowledge and leadership across all aspects of the Strategy through strong partnerships and co-design
• Fosters healthy and climate resilient communities that are ready for climate impacts, such as extreme weather events. 
• Equitably decarbonises healthcare to reach net zero emissions by 2040.
  
  

Investing in climate resilience and innovation

We also call on the Australian Government to invest in:

• A Climate Friendly Health System Innovation Fund to provide grants to local health services for emissions reduction and sustainability initiatives.
• A National Climate Change and Health Resilience Research Fund to identify resilience strategies for our health system.

Our asks are based on our comprehensive research report. As the report states: “The need for urgent action to address the health impacts of climate change is well-established. Australia is facing greater climate change impacts than many other parts of the world. Like all countries, Australia’s health system confronts the dual challenge of dealing with human impacts of climate change and reducing its own substantial contributions to the country’s carbon footprint.”

For more information, please contact  policy@racp.edu.au