Why we need a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty
Courtney Howard, Jess Beagley, Mohamed Eissa, Ojistoh Horn, Jennifer Kuhl, Jeni Miller, S. P. Atul Narayan, Richard Smith, Willow Thickson
Abstract
Deaths from heat waves, hospital evacuations due to floods and wildfires, asthma exacerbations from heat-amplified air pollution, drought-related malnutrition emergencies, changing patterns of infectious disease—every year it becomes clearer why pollution and climate change are the greatest threats to health and health systems of our time. Many health benefits are expected if average global temperature is kept closer to 1·5oC than 2oC above preindustrial levels.1 Concerningly, in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (working group 1) Assessment Report only the lowest emissions scenario shows temperatures staying below 1·5oC, and this is only after a brief period of overshoot.