6 July, 2023
The European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Lung Foundation (ELF) have responded to the consultation launched by the European Commission “EU climate target for 2040”, highlighting the effects of climate change on people with respiratory diseases when providing input for the 2040 climate targets.
The EU has already established its climate targets for 2030 and 2050 and is now working on the policy measures needed to meet the 2030 target and accelerate emissions reductions.
To achieve these goals, many cross-sectorial transformations will be needed. Setting a 2040 target for EU greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions will impact many economic sectors and territories in the EU, requiring specific policies in many fields beyond climate policy.
ERS and ELF took the opportunity offered by the European Commission to shed light on the effects of climate change on people with respiratory diseases by providing input for the 2040 climate targets.
The effects of climate change on people with respiratory conditions include:
- Climate change is currently considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) the biggest global threat to humanity in the 21st century;
- It is expected to cause at least 250,000 deaths every year by 2050 due to climate-related heat stress, malnutrition, malaria, and diarrhoea, as well as to create further health burdens from more indirect climate-related paths (i.e. migration, conflicts, poverty, disruption of health care and ecosystems);
- People with respiratory diseases are among the most vulnerable groups impacted by climate change; individuals with an already impaired respiratory function (e.g. asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) patients) are particularly sensitive to changes in weather or extreme weather events, which can directly lead to a worsening of their health and an increased risk of dying;
- Exposure to environmental factors, such as air pollution, pollen and other aeroallergens can affect a number of respiratory outcomes and could increase allergic responses, existing respiratory diseases and new cases of chronic and infectious respiratory diseases.
Taking this into consideration, ERS and ELF recommended a series of objectives and priorities for a long-term vision to reach the EU climate target for 2040, including but not limited to:
- Full alignment of the Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) to the WHO 2021 Air Quality Guidelines;
- Promoting the reduction of carbon footprint created by the health sector;
- Ensure the involvement of healthcare professionals, providing them with the relevant information and resources to help their patients and become active partners in climate change mitigation efforts;
- Support an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration among a variety of stakeholders (i.e. health care professionals, scientists, epidemiologists, climate change experts, atmospheric scientists, statisticians, political scientists, policy makers as well as patients and patients advocates) to create new approaches based on the existing scientific evidence.
ERS and ELF are calling for urgent measures to mitigate climate change’s adverse effects on respiratory patients. At the heart of these measures, bold actions are needed to reduce exposure to air pollution, which would bring immediate benefits to health.
As the climate scenarios for the next century predict that climate change will progress at a much faster rate (if no reductions in GHG emissions occur), the EU has the opportunity to implement a legal framework to foster climate change and air pollution reduction policies at European and national level, and ultimately support changes across the world.
Read the full ERS/ELF response to the European Commission’s EU Climate 2040 consultation.