Category Archives: Writing

The hidden twin to Biden’s green economic agenda The Biden administration’s climate agenda is a watershed moment. The fiscal powerhouse of the American federal government is being mobilised to invest hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars into accelerating the transition to a cleaner economy.1 This represents by far the most significant action on theContinue reading “Climate change as a national security threat”

Joint action is essential for planetary and human health Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe. This overall environmental crisis is now so severe asContinue reading “Time to treat the climate and nature crisis as one indivisible global health emergency”

Supercharged by record carbon emissions and an emergent El Niño, the world temporarily passed 1.5C of global heating this year. This doesn’t mean the goal to limit the rise in average global temperature to within 1.5C above the pre-industrial era average set by the Paris Agreement has been lost. That only happens when the temperatureContinue reading “Global warming: Why focusing on 1.5C is flawed “

Success, failure, and the imperative for justice in climate negotiations Recent United Nations Conferences of the Parties (COPs) have demonstrated that health professionals are playing an increasingly prominent role in calling for rapid action to address the climate crisis.[1] COPs take place in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, theContinue reading “Comment: WHO Bulletin”

The New Statesman covered our report with IPPR and Chatham House, which you can read here.

The Mirror covered our IPPR and Chatham House report, for which I was the lead author.

The 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a dark picture of the future of life on earth, characterized by ecosystem collapse, species extinction, and climate hazards such as heat waves and floods. These are all linked to physical and mental health problems, with direct and indirect consequences of increased morbidityContinue reading “Comment: Urgent action needed for Africa and the world at COP27”

The battle to get countries and companies to sign up to net zero is being won. Now let’s keep pushing for more ambitious targets The climate crisis is often seen in binary terms. Precise temperature targets – limiting global heating to 1.5C or 2C – imply decisive moments of victory or loss. Headlines warn thatContinue reading “Incredibly, current climate pledges could keep heating below 2C – but our work isn’t over”

For years, climate activists have called for a war-like mobilization to drive a rapid transition to clean energy. Today, these demands have taken on a new urgency: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a relentless demonstration of just how much fossil fuels threaten the world’s shared security.  The brutality of Russia’s military, the Kremlin’s leverage over NATO,Continue reading “Heat pumps and tipping points: Weaning the world off Russian energy”

Richard Smith and I reflected on how health and climate change were dealt with at COP26. The article can be accessed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8967474/