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Health and climate change

This paper documents a multi-dimensional assessment of climate change, with a particular focus on human health aspects alongside the ecological and economic impacts. The study also ties in the important concept of risk assessment, saying that the insurance industry will be both absorbing risk and, through its pricing and recommendations, helping business and society adapt to and reduce these new risks.

The Climate Change Futures study is comprised of three main elements: trends, case studies and scenarios, which detail and analyse current climate change related consequences for human health, ecological systems and the global economy. The central premise is that climate change will affect the health of humans as well as the ecosystems and species on which we depend, and that these health impacts will have economic consequences. The case studies outline current effects of climate change with regard to infectious diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease and asthma; extreme weather events; and various ecosystems. Economic implications as well as possible near-future impacts are projected for each case. Furthermore, two climate scenarios are developed which examine how the possible impacts of climate change could impose severe strains on the financial sector.

The key points communicated by the report include:

• warming favours the spread of disease
• extreme weather events create conditions conducive to disease outbreaks
• climate change and infectious diseases threaten ecosystems, which provide us with essential resources and constitute our life-support systems
• some impacts of warming and greater weather volatility could occur suddenly and become widespread
• coastal human communities, coral reefs and forests are particularly vulnerable to warming and disease, especially as the return time between extremes shortens
• an increasingly unstable climate could shift and settle into a new equilibrium, allowing a measure of adaptation and the opportunity to rapidly reduce fossil fuel combustion and deforestation
• a well-funded, well-insured programme to develop and distribute a diverse suite of means to generate clean energy offers enormous business opportunities and may present the most secure means of restabilising the climate
• solutions to the emerging energy crisis must be thoroughly scrutinised as to their life cycle impacts on health and safety, environmental integrity, global security and the international economy

The editors hope that the report will not only help businesses avoid risks, but also identify opportunities and solutions. With early action and innovative policies, business can enhance the world’s ability to adapt to change and help restabilise the climate.

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