London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The conference, titled The Health Benefits of Tackling Climate Change, was attended by key personnel from government, health bodies, the science community, non-governmental organisations and the press and featured a personal statement from UK Health Minister Andy Burnham. Video messages from UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, Director General of WHO, Margaret Chan and US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Katherine Sibelius supported the findings. US academics and policy makers joined the debate by satellite link from the National Press Association in Washing DC.

Margaret Chan, said health protection should be a criteria by which mitigation measures were judged. Dr Chan was just one of the key figures in global health research who wrote a comment article that was published alongside the Lancet reports. She commented: "As this series shows, cutting greenhouse gas emissions can represent a mutually reinforcing opportunity to reduce climate change and improve public health."

The forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change represents a tipping point for humanity. Commitments must be given, and actions taken, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and slow the increase in global temperatures. Developed and developing nations must come up with a plan to achieve this, or all will suffer the consequences.

The series of six papers available in The Lancet explore how climate change, and policies to mitigate its effects, affects the health and lives of populations around the world. An international team led by Professor Sir Andrew Haines, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has written the papers which analyse the effects of policies on food, transport, the built environment, household energy, electricity generation and greenhouse emissions.

The expert groups explored detailed case studies. These included examples relating to domestic energy-saving measures in the UK; household fuel use in India; power generation; urban transport changes and initiatives to reduce the use of cars; and reducing livestock emissions.

The Series has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Royal College of Physicians, the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences, with support from WHO.

Editor of The Lancet Dr Richard Horton said: "In the public and political debates about climate change, the predicaments we face are typically framed as economic and environmental threats. But there are serious health threats too. This latest report from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will show the huge health dividends that will accrue if we take decisive action now to address climate change. Not only will the world be healthier by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but we will be healthier also."

He adds, "by suggesting that Copenhagen is the 'last chance' for a binding international climate change agreement, anything less will seem a failure. Copenhagen is a beginning, not the end."

Professor Haines said: "The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is aiming to achieve an ambitious global agreement on greenhouse gas reduction. Understanding the potential health impacts of these mitigation strategies will help world leaders reach an informed decision about which policies to pursue based on scientific evidence.

The Copenhagen conference presents an important opportunity to choose those policies that can not only achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gases, but also move toward development and health goals."

KEY FINDINGS

Food: High-producing countries should reduce livestock production by 30%. If this translated into reduced meat consumption, the amount of saturated fat consumed would drop sharply, which could reduce heart disease

Transport: Cutting emissions through walking and cycling and reducing use of motor vehicles would bring health benefits including reduced cardiovascular disease, depression and dementia

Household: In low-income countries, solid fuel stoves create indoor air pollution. National programmes to introduce low-emission stoves could avert millions of premature deaths and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Pollution: Short-lived pollutants including ozone and black carbon contribute to climate change and damage health. Reducing emissions of these would offer immediate benefits

Energy: Decreasing the proportion of carbon-based electricity generation would give health benefits worldwide, particularly in middle-income countries such as India and China.