Heatwaves, air pollution and extreme weather events caused by fossil fuels and climate change pose significant risks to health and our health service. Any plans to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act are deeply concerning and put lives at risk.

With our appointment as co-chairs of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC), we felt it important to take stock. What has been the trajectory of the planetary climate crisis? How have corporates and governments and we – as citizens, voters and healthcare professionals, and as UKHACC – responded? Where has that left us know? What does the future now look like? And what must we now do? 

Five years since NHS England (NHSE) published its Net Zero strategy, its new report demonstrates some progress, and NHSE’s Greener NHS programme must be commended for the leadership they have demonstrated. However, both global emissions scenarios and scientific data have changed greatly over the last five years, and action at a far greater pace and scale is now needed.