Experts say the Australian health sector can be a leader in fighting climate change.

To do this, Australia needs to frame climate change as a health issue first and foremost, according to a new study.

Dr Tarun Weeramanthri, President of the Public Health Association of Australia, says climate-related heat events in the Northern Hemisphere are part of a global trend that will have implications for Australia’s health system.

“A series of temperature records have been set, with cascading effects across a wide area of the United States and Canada,” Dr Weeramanthri says in a new paper.

“For example, the temperature record for Lytton in British Columbia was broken on three successive days (27–29 June 2021), with the temperature finally reaching 49.6C — 4.6C higher than the pre-heatwave record.

“Days later, wildfires destroyed the town. The heatwave led to over 500 unexpected and potentially preventable deaths in British Columbia, and approximately 200 further deaths in the American states of Washington and Oregon, many in older people.”

As the driest inhabited continent Australia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming.

“Long-term meteorological data show an incremental and progressive rise in surface, ocean and atmospheric temperatures, with the climate warming on average by 1.4C since 1910,” Dr Weeramanthri said. 

“The year 2019 was the hottest in Australia’s history, and each decade since 1980 has been warmer than the last.”

Dr Weeramanthri says Australia has four obligations in regard to global climate change action:

• Join with other countries to urgently reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming to less than 1.5C

• Decarbonise the health sector at least as fast as other sectors. 

• Frame climate change as a health issue, first and foremost

• Clearly define the climate role of all levels of government, and create early warning systems linked to local heat health action plans that identify specific settings

“We need to take note of the science and real-world evidence before our eyes, urgently reduce emissions, and prepare for further such events in a planned way that prioritises equity and takes into account our specific circumstances and risks,” the new study concludes.