In October 2021, the World Health Organization declared climate change to be the single biggest health threat facing humanity, due to rising global temperatures.
The earth has already warmed by 1.1°c above pre-industrial levels due to human activity. Urgent action is needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°c to prevent devastating harm to health. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better choices of transport, food and energy leads to improved health, particularly through reduced air pollution.
Wales has the environment and legislation to support the transformation needed to tackle climate change. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 makes sure that the climate is considered when everyday decisions are being made. This world-leading legislation places a duty on us to support the seven well-being goals put in place by the act.
We have a long history of work on climate change and sustainability, inside and outside of our organisation.
We set up our Health and Sustainability Hub in 2016 to help put in place the requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The Hub has helped develop our approach to sustainability and to reducing our carbon-dioxide output. With our key stakeholders, we developed a comprehensive health impact assessment of climate change in Wales, which was published in July 2023 to inform decision-making and policy on adapting to climate change.
In 2021, we carried out a review of the Climate Change Risk Assessment for Wales report (CCRA3). This report assessed 61 risks and opportunities from climate change, across sectors such as health, housing, the natural environment, business and infrastructure, and risks from the international effects of climate change. The report identified a significant number of risks that needed urgent public health action.
Since 2021, work has been underway across Public Health Wales and the wider health system to respond to the climate emergency. This has involved including activity on climate change in existing programmes, for example, Healthy Working Wales and work in Improvement Cymru, or developing new action programmes such as the Greener Primary Care Wales Scheme. We recognise that reducing our carbon emissions and taking action on climate change will help bring about direct improvements for public health and health equity.
As a key provider of NHS services across Wales, Public Health Wales has an important role to play in
supporting sustainability activities. We align our own ambition with key priorities and targets set out in the NHS Wales Decarbonisation Strategic Delivery Plan to ensure we reduce our carbon emissions to work to achieve Net Zero emissions. Public Health Wales will continue to work in co-ordination with our partner NHS health boards and trusts and with NHS Wales’s Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), to deliver our 2024-2026 Decarbonisation and Sustainability Plan. We recognise that Public Health Wales can also provide an advisory role to support the wider delivery and inform future development of NHS Wales’s Decarbonisation Strategic Action Plan. Our role as a system enabler, also contributes to the sustainability of the Welsh NHS and public services as detailed in the March 2024 position statement and includes programmes such as Greener Primary Care.