Climate change is a clear and present danger to health, says UKHSA

Published shortly after the first ever health day at the UN’s annual climate conferences,1 the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report, Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK,2 vividly sets out the current and future health threats posed by a changing climate and is essential reading after a year of unprecedented climate records.3

The UKHSA report provides a UK focus on the large and growing global evidence for the health impacts of climate change (as documented annually by the Lancet countdown report4). Over 15 chapters and 721 pages, the report details the evidence that the health consequences of global heating of 4.3°C by 2081-2100 would be broad and devastating in the UK. This high-end 4.3°C scenario would be the result of greenhouse gas emissions continuing to rise throughout the 21st century,5 the likelihood of which depends on how quickly all countries take action. However, the authors justify the use of this temperature scenario as it is the only …