The Countdown to 2030: Global Health and Climate Action (360G-Wellcome-200890_Z_16_Z)

Climate change threatens to undermine the foundations of human wellbeing, and to reverse the last five decades of gains in global health. The 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change concludes that the barriers to tackling climate change and improving public health are no longer economic or technological, but largely political. The report also concludes that "tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century", with reduced greenhouse gas emissions yielding substantial health (and economic) gains. The Commission is an institutional collaboration between European and Chinese academic centres, led by University College London, Tsinghua University (Beijing), the University of Exeter, and Sweden’s Stockholm Resilience Centre and Umea University. It published its work on the 23rd of June, 2015 in The Lancet, with 11 launch events around the world. The authors of the Commission report recognise the need to carry their work forward- and to help deliver the required change. They propose a "Countdown to 2030: Global Health and Climate Action" as a mechanism for tracking progress on the implementation of policies designed to respond to climate change and protect public health. This idea draws upon the success of the Countdown to Child Survival, which galvanised evidence, interest and action to improve progress on child mortality over the past decade. The Countdown will exist as an independent, international, and multi-disciplinary coalition of organizations. The combined networks of The Lancet and the partner institutions will be utilized to ensure global reach to academics, policymakers, and the health community. It will produce an annual synthesis report on (i) the health impacts of climate change; (ii) progress in mitigation policies and the extent to which they protect and promote public health; (iii) progress with broader adaptation action to reduce population vulnerability, to build climate resilience, and to implement low carbon, sustainable health systems. The Countdown will continue its collaboration with The Lancet, who commit to publishing these Countdown Reports, as well as a number of related country- or issue-specific articles throughout each year.