Divesting from fossil fuels? a presentation to the West Midlands Registrars in public health, February 25th 2019. 190225 middletonj divesting in fossil fuels

1. www.fph.org.uk
Divest from fossil fuels ?
Professor John Middleton
President, UK Faculty of Public Health
Honorary Professor of Public Health, Wolverhampton University

2. 26/02/2019 1

5. 426/02/2019

6. 526/02/2019

7. 626/02/2019

8. Rockefeller Lancet
Planetary Health
commission

11. Increasing exposure to heatwaves
• Headline Finding:
Between 2000 and
2016, the number of
vulnerable people
exposed to heatwave
events has increased
by around 125 million.
10

12. • Heat inequality Guardian
1126/02/2019

13. •
1226/02/2019

14. 1326/02/2019

15. 2oC Target

16. 1526/02/2019
GW1.5
main
findings

17. 26/02/2019 16

18. IPCC contrasts the impacts of 1.5C and 2C warming
• predicts a difference of 10 cm sea level rise and 10.4 million
displaced people by 2100,
• a difference of 190 million premature deaths and hundreds of
millions of people forced into poverty by 2050.
To limit warming to 1.5OC.
• we must reduce CO2 emissions by at least 45% in the next 12 years
compared to 2010 levels;
• and achieve net zero CO2 production by 2050.
• This is a tall order, requiring action on multiple fronts at all levels of
society – from the local to the global.
1726/02/2019
GW1.5 main findings

19. 1826/02/2019

20. 26/02/2019 19

21. 2026/02/2019
The UK government has even
imposed a legal obligation upon
itself, under the Infrastructure Act
2015, to “maximise economic
recovery” of the UK’s oil and gas.

22. 2126/02/2019

23. 2226/02/2019

24. 2326/02/2019

25. 2426/02/2019

26. 2526/02/2019

27. 2626/02/2019
In the decade between 2001 and 2011, global military
spending increased by an estimated 92 percent, according to
Stockholm International Peace Research, although it fell by
1.9 percent in real terms in 2013 to $1,747 billion. At the same
time, according to the draft of a new study from the
International Peace Bureau (1), almost 10 gigatons of carbon
dioxide equivalent has been released into the atmosphere.
According to the Global Carbon Project, 2014 emissions are
set to reach a record high. Could there be some connection
between rising military expenditures and rising carbon
emissions?

29. Thinking globally, acting nationally:
The UK Faculty of Public Health
Manifesto for Health ‘Start well, live
better’ Active travel and climate
change policy asks
Invest in active transport to
promote good health and reduce our
impact on climate change
Implement a cross national
approach to meet climate change
targets, including a rapid move to a
100% renewables and a zero carbon
energy system

30. 26/02/2019 29

31. 26/02/2019 30

32. 26/02/2019 31

33. 26/02/2019 32

34. 26/02/2019
https://b8f65cb373b1b7b15feb-
c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cms/reports/docu
ments/000/002/327/original/Carbon-Majors-Report-2017.pdf?1499691240
100 fossil fuel
companies have
been responsible
for more than
70% of the
world’s
greenhouse gas
emissions since
1988

35. The fossil fuel
industry has five
times more fossil
fuels in its proven
reserves than can be
used if global
warming is to be
limited to 2⁰C.
26/02/2019 34

36. Deepwater
horizon, Gulf of
Mexico Disaster
2010
26/02/2019 35

37. 26/02/2019 36

38. 26/02/2019 37

39. 26/02/2019 38

40. ‘Protecting resources
from one generation
to the next’
Thinking globally, acting
nationally- The Welsh
Wellbeing of Future
Generations Act, 2015

42. The green recovery ?

44. http://www.campaignc
c.org/sites/data/files/D
ocs/one_million_climat
e_jobs_2014.pdf

45. www.fph.org.uk
Thank you
John Middleton
president@fph.org.uk

46. www.fph.org.uk
26/02/2019 45

47. References
• Climate and Health Council (www.climateandhealth.org)
Global health, global warming, personal and professional
responsibility, Cambridge Medicine, Pencheon D, Vol 2, No 22, 2008
• Stott R, Healthy response to climate change, BMJ 2006;332;1385-1387
• Gill M, Why should doctors be interested in climate change?
BMJ Jun 2008; 336: 1506
• Griffiths J, Alison Hill, Jackie Spiby and Mike Gill, Robin Stott Ten
practical actions for doctors to combat climate change, BMJ
2008;336;1507
• Sustaining a healthy future: www.fph.org.uk
• Griffiths J et al, The Health Practitioner's Guide to Climate Change,
Earthscan 2009
• Pencheon D, Health services and climate change: what can be done?
J Health Serv Res Policy. Editorial Jan 2009
• UCL Health Commission/Lancet: Managing the Health effects of
Climate Change. May 2009
• The health benefits of tackling climate change, Wellcome/LSHTM, Nov
2009
• Sustainable Development Commission: http://www.sd-
commission.org.uk/pages/health.html

48. • Middleton J, ISIS, crop failure and no anti-biotics:
what training will we need for future public health?
European J Public Health 2016;
https://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/5/735
• Middleton J. Public health in England in 2016—the
health of the public and the public health system: a
review Br Med Bull (2017) 1-16. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldw054 and
http://academic.oup.com//bmb/article/doi/10.1093/bmb/l
dw054/2871226/Public-health-in-England-in-2016the-
health-of-the?guestAccessKey=8f7a33a1-bdbf-4db4-
948c-fd6b6293a259