"If you care about health and healthcare, you should also care about climate and nature. You cannot separate these issues."
Health and the state of the planet are inextricably linked, writes Dr Mike Robinson, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
Recent research into voter attitudes revealed the biggest issues people were worried about as they headed to the ballot boxes for the Scottish election in May. Unsurprisingly, the cost of living and health services topped the list. Meanwhile, climate change and the environment come in lower down, in eighth place.
It’s understandable that tackling global warming and loss of nature is considered of lower importance than more immediate issues. However, it’s easy to forget that the state of the planet affects everything else and is therefore also a major factor in our most pressing concerns.
According to the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), climate change is the “single biggest health threat facing humanity”, and it is “already killing us”.
Scotland’s own chief medical officer, Professor Sir Gregor Smith, has warned that “planetary health and human health are inextricably connected”.
Burning issue
All 10 of the warmest years in history have occurred this century, with 2024 the hottest ever recorded and 2023 and 2025 not far behind. This is not a coincidence, with scientists agreeing that warming is driven by a build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, emitted by human activities and rapidly accelerating since industrialisation. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 278 parts per million in the 18th century to around 420 parts per million today.
According to experts at the US space agency, temperatures during warm periods three million years ago – when sea levels were much higher than today – were only around 3°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. The world is currently on track to hit 2.6C of warming by the end of the century, unless emissions are drastically reduced.
How climate breakdown affects health
The impacts of rising global heat are causing multiple changes to the world we live in, from sea level rise to increasingly extreme and erratic weather conditions – more intense heatwaves, droughts, storms, wildfires and floods are all being reported.
Here in the UK, we have just experienced the hottest May and spring days on record, smashing the previous high – recorded in 1922 and 1944 – by more than 2C.
In addition there is real concern amongst scientists and meteorological bodies that 2026 may see a ‘super El Niño’ event, pushing temperatures higher than ever. There is already speculation that next year could be the hottest ever known.
Data reveals that a third of the world’s heat-related deaths occur in the European region, with more than 100,000 people across 35 countries dying due to heat from the start of 2022 to the end of 2023.
Heatwaves have caused significant numbers of deaths in Scotland and across the UK in recent years – 2022 saw the highest figures since recording began, with 2,985 people dying in five heat episodes. In Scotland, at least 60 people died from climate-driven heatwaves during the summer of 2024.
Meanwhile, the warming climate is also bringing new pests, diseases and non-native species to places they were previously not present, wreaking havoc on crops, nature and potentially human health. New research has also suggested that climate change could be helping to drive the increase in antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Meanwhile, as well as being the key cause of global temperature rise, burning fossil fuels is also one of the biggest culprits responsible for contaminating the air we breathe. The WHO has named air pollution, mainly from industrial plants and traffic fumes, as one of the leading causes of avoidable deaths, with almost eight million people dying from its effects each year across the globe.
A recent report from the Royal College of Physicians highlighted growing evidence about the increased range of health problems linked to toxic air, even at low concentration, from acute and chronic respiratory diseases to strokes, heart disease and lung cancer. Figures suggest around 30,000 people in the UK – including around 2,500 in Scotland– die from the effects each year, costing the NHS more than £27 billion annually.
What is the prescription?
All these factors are bringing mounting challenges for our own well-being, as well as the cost of, and ability to provide, effective treatment. So if you care about health and healthcare, you should also care about climate and nature. You cannot separate these issues.
Transformational moves would include: introducing better, cheaper and greener transport options, such as free buses and increased charging infrastructure for electric vehicles; ramping up work to make homes warmer, drier and cheaper to run, with low-carbon heating and cooling systems and effective insulation (living in cold and damp homes can also significantly harm health, increasing risks of respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular problems, musculoskeletal pain and mental health conditions); and incentivising eco-friendly farming, including cutting use of fertiliser and pesticides, increasing tree-planting and intercropping, reducing livestock numbers and improving soil quality.
No matter what you see as the top priorities over the next parliament, we need to see action to tackle climate change stepped up and delivered urgently. The right measures will simultaneously reduce emissions, clean up the environment, create green jobs, boost the economy and improve the lives of Scots.
Now that would be a healthier future. ⏹
