2018/04/04 by Annabelle Workman, Grant Blashki, Kathryn Bowen +2 · 3 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Environmental Science · Health Professions · #Business #Climate Change and Health Impacts #Climate change #Climate change mitigation #Ecology #Economic growth #Economics #Environmental resource management #Global Health Care Issues #Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology #Health care #Health policy #Natural resource economics #Political economy of climate change #Political science #Politics #Public economics
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/ijerph15040674
openalex publication_date 2018/04/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
A complex, whole-of-economy issue such as climate change demands an interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral response. However, evidence suggests that human health has remained elusive in its influence on the development of ambitious climate change mitigation policies for many national governments, despite a recognition that the combustion of fossil fuels results in pervasive short- and long-term health consequences. We use insights from literature on the political economy of health and climate change, the science–policy interface and power in policy-making, to identify additional barriers to the meaningful incorporation of health co-benefits into climate change mitigation policy development. Specifically, we identify four key interrelated areas where barriers may exist in relation to health co-benefits: discourse, efficiency, vested interests and structural challenges. With these insights in mind, we argue that the current politico-economic paradigm in which climate change is situated and the processes used to develop climate change mitigation policies do not adequately support accounting for health co-benefits. We present approaches for enhancing the role of health co-benefits in the development of climate change mitigation policies to ensure that health is embedded in the broader climate change agenda.