Health implications of climate tipping points

5 December 2022 17:30-19:00 CET

Health implications of climate tipping points

Join AIMES, the Earth Commission, Future Earth, and the WCRP Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity for a webinar on the health implications of climate tipping points, as part of a series that aims to advance the knowledge about tipping elements, irreversibility, and abrupt changes in the Earth system.

Presentations

Climate tipping-related health impacts and risks - Kris Ebi (University of Washington)
Climate change and health: tipping points for impacts and action - Sir Andy Haines (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine):
Q&A/ Discussion

Moderated by Tolullah Oni (University of Cambridge)

Please see the recording below.

Back to series overview.

Photo byMatt PalmeronUnsplash

Speakers

Prof. Kris Ebi
University of Washington

Dr. Kristie L. Ebi is Professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment. Ebi’s scientific training includes an M.S. in toxicology and a Ph.D. and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology, and two years of postgraduate research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has been conducting research and practice on the health risks of climate variability and change for 25 years, focusing on understanding sources of vulnerability; estimating current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce risks in multi-stressor environments; and estimating the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has supported multiple countries in Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific in assessing their vulnerabilities and implementing adaptation policies and programs. She has edited fours books on aspects of climate change, has more than 200 publications, and has been an author on multiple national and international climate change assessments, including the fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report and Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.

Sir Andy Haines
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Sir Andy Haines is Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health with a joint appointment in the Dept of Public Health, Environments and Society and in the Dept of Population Health. He was previously Director (originally Dean) of LSHTM for nearly 10 years up to October 2010, having previously been Professor of Primary Health Care at UCL between 1987-2000. He worked part-time as a general practitioner in North London for many years.

Between 1993-6 he was on secondment as Director of Research & Development at the NHS Executive, North Thames and he was consultant epidemiologist at the MRC Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit between 1980-7. He has also worked internationally in Nepal, Jamaica, Canada and the USA.

He has been a member of a number of major international and national committees including the MRC Global Health Group ( chair) and the MRC Strategy Group. He was formerly chair of the Universities UK Health and Social Care Policy Committee and a member of the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research. In recent years his research focus has been on the effects of environmental change on health and the impact of policies to adapt to or mitigate these changes. He was a member of Working Group 2 of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the second and third assessment reports and review editor of the health chapter in the fifth assessment report. He chaired the Scientific Advisory Panel for the 2013 WHO World Health Report on Research for Universal Health Coverage. In 2014/2015 he chaired the Rockefeller Foundation/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health and he co-chaired the development group for the Health Knowledge Action Network of Future Earth. He was co-chair of the European Academies Science Advisory Committee working group on climate change and health in Europe which published its report in June 2019. He currently co-chair the InterAcademy Partnership(~140 science academies worldwide) working group on climate change and health and the Royal Society/ Academy of Medical Sciences group on health and climate change mitigation. He also co-chair the Lancet Pathfinder Commission on health in the zero-carbon economy and participate in the Lancet Commissionon Pollution and the Lancet Commission on the COVID-19 response.

All you need to know

This event is part of a series of online discussions aims to advance the knowledge about tipping elements, irreversibility, and abrupt changes in the Earth system. It supports efforts to increase consistency in treatment of tipping elements in the scientific community, develop a research agenda, and design joint experiments and ideas for a Tipping Element Model Intercomparison Project (TipMip).

This discussion series is a joint activity of the Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) global research project of Future Earth, the Earth Commission Working Group 1 Earth and Human Systems Intercomparison Modelling Project (EHSMIP) under the Global Commons Alliance and the Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity of World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

Organized by

Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES)

The Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) project is an international network of Earth system scientists and scholars that seek to develop innovative, interdisciplinary ways to understand the complexity of the natural world and its interactions with human activities. AIMES is a global research project of Future Earth.

Earth Commission

The Earth Commission is a major scientific assessment, hosted by Future Earth, to define a safe and just corridor for people and planet. The Commission will inform the creation of science-based targets, the “1.5-degree equivalents”, to help maintain and protect critical global commons – our shared climate, land, biodiversity, freshwater, atmosphere and oceans. The Earth Commission is an international team of leading natural and social scientists and five working groups of additional experts. It forms the scientific cornerstone of the Global Commons Alliance.

Future Earth

Future Earth is a global network of scientists, researchers, and innovators collaborating for a more sustainable planet. Future Earth initiates and supports international collaboration between researchers and stakeholders to identify and generate the integrated knowledge needed for successful transformations towards societies that provide good and fair lives for all within a stable and resilient Earth system. Future Earth is the host of the Earth Commission.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)is an international research institute that advances systems analysis and applies its research methods to identify policy solutions to reduce human footprints, enhance the resilience of natural and socioeconomic systems, and help achieve the sustainable development goals.

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is advancing the frontier of integrated research for global sustainability, and for a safe and just climate future. A member of the Leibniz Association, the institute is based in Potsdam, Brandenburg and connected with the global scientific community. Drawing on excellent research, PIK provides relevant scientific advice for policy decision-making. The institute’s international staff of about 400 is led by a committed interdisciplinary team of Directors.

University of Exeter, Global Systems Institute

The Global Systems Institute (GSI) is thought-leading in understanding global changes, solving global challenges and helping create a flourishing future world together, through transformative research, education and impact. GSI's aim is to work with others to secure a flourishing future for humanity as an integral part of a life-sustaining Earth system. GSI's aim to be a ‘go to’ place for global change researchers from around the world, bringing them together with industry, policymakers, students and other stakeholders to tackle shared problems, and acting as a catalyst that enables translation of this research into applications that deliver tangible and sustainable social and ecological benefit.

WCRP Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity.

The Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity is an exploration of the routes to “safe landing” spaces for human and natural systems. It will explore future pathways that avoid dangerous climate change while at the same time contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those of climate action, zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, and healthy ecosystems above and below water. The relevant time scale is multi-decadal to millennial.

World Climate Research Programme

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) leads the way in addressing frontier scientific questions related to the coupled climate system — questions that are too large and too complex to be tackled by a single nation, agency or scientific discipline. Through international science coordination and partnerships, WCRP contributes to advancing our understanding of the multi-scale dynamic interactions between natural and social systems that affect climate.