Presentation at the All Policies for a Healthy Europe manifesto launch at the European Parliament, March 20th 2019. #Wellbeing4All

1. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
All Policies for Healthy Europe (AP4HE) – European Parliament
20th of March 2019
A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT IN EUROPE FOR HEALTHIER PEOPLE
Celine Charveriat, Institute for European Environmental policy (IEEP)
IEEP is a sustainability think tank

2. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Key linkages
Environmental
degradation and
health
• Impact of changing
environment (e.g.
heat waves)
• Pollution
‒ air
‒ water
‒ food and soils
‒ noise
Health care
costs, challenge
of adaptation
Nature as a medicine
• Benefits from access to nature and
nutritious food for health
Health sector as a polluter?
• Residues of various types of
medicinal products (hormones, anti-
cancer, antidepressants, antibiotics,
etc.) detected in surface water,
groundwater, soil, air, and biota
waste
• Antibiotic consumption by the
livestock sector contributing to AMR
• Health care = 8% of U.S. carbon
footprint (JAMA, 2009)
• Hospitals’ energy, material
consumption (specific issue with
anaesthetic gases) and food waste

3. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
A few facts and figures
+
• Access to nutritious foods (which requires well functioning ecosystems), contributes to a good
health status:
‒ A healthier and more sustainable diet could prevent 11 million premature adult deaths
per year in the world (Lancet Commission, 2019).
• Access to green spaces in urban areas has a positive impact on happiness and mental health:
‒ In Spain, people living within 300 metres of green spaces report better self-perceived
physical and mental health.
‒ Doctors prescribe fewer anti-depressants in urban areas with more trees on the street .
‒ Middle-aged men living in deprived urban areas with high amounts of green space have a
16% lower risk of dying compared with similar groups living in areas with less green
space.
• Role of nature for children and adolescents
‒ Growing up and living in microbe-rich environments can reduce the development of
allergies.
‒ Living 2 to 5 km from diverse natural environments (like forest areas or traditional farms)
reduces the chance of allergies in children 6 years or older.
‒ Access to nature can reduce childhood behavioural problems, such as hyperactivity,
emotional symptoms and peer relationship problem.
Source: Ten Brink P., Mutafoglu K., Schweitzer J-P., Kettunen M., Twigger-Ross C., Baker J., Kuipers Y.,
Emonts M., Tyrväinen L., Hujala T., and Ojala A. (2016).

4. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
A few facts and figures
• By 2050, heat waves will cause 120,000 deaths per year in the EU
alone, and this will create an economic burden on public health of
€150 billion (EEA, 2015).
• Air pollution is responsible for early mortality, with more than 400,000
deaths in the EU-28 in 2012 (IEEP, 2016).
• The WHO estimated in 2011 that at least one million healthy life years
are lost every year from traffic-related noise in western European
countries (WHO, 2017).
• Human stools contain up to nine different plastics out of the ten
varieties (Medical University of Vienna and the Environment Agency
Austria, 2018).
• 23 to 54 substances believed to be EDCs have been found in children’s
hair in France in 2017 (Le Monde, 2017).

5. Reducing exposure to hazards: health and waste
management
Italy, Campania Region:
• Declaration of environmental emergency (mid
90’s);
• Set up of a permanent system for
epidemiological surveillance of the health of
people living near large industrial sites;
• Foster a reduction of exposure to hazardous
waste;
• Periodical analysis and public reporting about
mortality and morbidity from relevant causes.
Sources: WHO, Healthy Environments for Healthier People, 2018; Italian
“Triangle of death” linked to waste crisis, Lancet, 2004.

6. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Improving access to nature for health: urban renovation
Parc des Hautes Bruyères – Villejuif, France
• Former industrial site converted into 23ha of
public park, between a highway and residential
area.
• Play areas, sports pitches, different gardens,
relaxation area used as well by patients from a
hospital and a cancer research centre.
• Vegetation can prevent the propagation of noise
by absorbing it.
• Inhabitants exposed to noise levels below 55dB
have a positive impact on life expectancy and on
mental and physical health.
Source: Ten Brink P., Mutafoglu K., Schweitzer J-P., Kettunen M., Twigger-Ross C., Baker
J., Kuipers Y., Emonts M., Tyrväinen L., Hujala T., and Ojala A. (2016).

7. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Wider recommendations for a sustainable & healthy Europe
• Develop synergies between health and environmental policies as part of Europe’s SDG implementation strategy
‒ Design a comprehensive environmental health strategy, providing a coherent framework for environmentally-related public health threats
incl. unhealthy and unsustainable food consumption; air, water, noise food pollution; heat waves, etc…
‒ Adopt regulations for chemicals, pesticides and medicines that protect both health and the environment.
‒ Assess the environmental impact of the healthcare system and identify opportunities for sustainable innovation (e.g. reduced impact on
biodiversity; digitalisation and carbon emissions; usage of plastics).
• Protecting Europe’s natural capital
‒ Adopt an ambitious EU biodiversity 2030 strategy.
‒ A fresh review of the challenge of improving soil management in Europe (incl. depollution).
‒ An increased focus across the Member States on implementing Water Framework Directive commitments.
‒ Recognizing that access to nature is a fundamental human right.
• Leaving no one behind
‒ Targeted actions to protect vulnerable populations from pollution (the poor, the elderly and children), especially in Europe’s eastern and
southern regions.
‒ Build the resilience of cities, rural communities and the wider environment through more effective adaptation strategies to climate change.
‒ Ensure the adequate representation of the interests of both youth and future generations, by establishing an EU Guardian for future
generations.
‒ Close the knowledge gaps regarding the connections between health, poverty and inequality and sustainability in Europe through research
and funding for socially innovative projects.
‒ Strengthen the European Social Pillar of Rights to support a just transition towards sustainability.

8. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
References
• Chung JW, Meltzer DO (2009). ‘Estimate of the Carbon Footprint of the US Health Care Sector’. JAMA.2009;302(18):1970–1972. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1610
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/184856
• WHO (2012). ‘Environmental inequalities in Europe’. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/157969/e96194.pdf
• Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (2013). ‘Study on the environmental risks of medicinal products’.
https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/files/environment/study_environment.pdf
• HEAL (2014). ‘Health costs in the European Union: how much is related to EDCs?’ https://www.env-
health.org/IMG/pdf/18062014_final_health_costs_in_the_european_union_how_much_is_realted_to_edcs.pdf
• European Environment Agency (2015). ‘EEA Signals 2015 - Living in a changing climate’. At: www.eea.europa.eu/publications/signals-2015
• Health Care Without Harm (2016). ‘Reducing healthcare’s climate footprint’. https://noharm-europe.org/sites/default/files/documents-files/4746/HCWHEurope_Climate_Report_Dec2016.pdf
• Ten Brink P., Mutafoglu K., Schweitzer J-P., Kettunen M., Twigger-Ross C., Baker J., Kuipers Y., Emonts M., Tyrväinen L., Hujala T., and Ojala A. (2016). ‘The Health and Social Benefits of Nature and
Biodiversity Protection’. A report for the European Commission (ENV.B.3/ETU/2014/0039), Institute for European Environmental Policy, London/Brussels. https://ieep.eu/publications/new-study-on-
the-health-and-social-benefits-of-biodiversity-and-nature-protection and https://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/biodiversity/2017/briefing-nature-health-and-equity-march-2017.pdf
• Le Monde (2017). ‘Des perturbateurs endocriniens retrouvés dans les cheveux d’enfants’, April 20th. https://www.lemonde.fr/pollution/article/2017/04/20/des-perturbateurs-endocriniens-retrouve-
dans-les-cheveux-d-enfants_5114079_1652666.html
• WHO (2017). ‘Environmentally sustainable health systems: a strategic document’. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/341239/ESHS_Revised_WHO_web.pdf?ua=1
• Eurostat (2018). ‘Sustainable development in the European Union - Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context’.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/9237449/KS-01-18-656-EN-N.pdf/2b2a096b-3bd6-4939-8ef3-11cfc14b9329
• Baldock, D. and Charveriat, C. (2018). ‘30x30 Actions for a Sustainable Europe, #Think2030 Action Plan’. The Institute for European Environmental Policy. https://ieep.eu/publications/30x30-actions-
for-a-sustainable-europe-think2030-action-plan
• The Guardian (2018). ‘Microplastics found in human stools for the first time’, October 22nd. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/22/microplastics-found-in-human-stools-for-the-
first-time
• 12 December 2013 EAT-Lancet Commission (2019). ‘EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Everyone’. https://eatforum.org/lancet-commission/everyone/

9. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Thank you for your attention !
ccharveriat@ieep.eu