10.F. Skills building seminar: How public health professionals can use the right to health to advance climate action and justice
Authors:   Organised by: Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health (Netherlands), ASPHER, EUPHA-ENV, -LAW, EUPHAnxt, Faculty of Public Health (UK), GNAPH,   Chair persons: John Middleton (ASPHER), Vlatka Matkovic (Belgium)
Published: October 2024

The climate crisis is the single biggest threat to global health, peace and security, a crisis multiplier, and a significant driver of health inequalities. In many areas of public health policy, legal action and litigation have delivered significant and long-lasting impacts. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that Switzerland had violated the right to health of older women in Switzerland by failing to meet its past greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and set future GHG targets. State-of-the-art public health evidence provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change were vital to the Court’s decision, which has implications for all Council of Europe member states, and globally. Rigorous scientific evidence of health harms, including but not limited to heat stress, can inform other climate litigation grounded in the right to health. Public health researchers and practitioners are essential to this litigation. In recognition of this emerging role, in November 2023 the Faculty of Public Health (UK) and the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health launched ‘From analysis to action: climate change litigation. A guide for public health professionals’ at the 16th European Public Health Conference. The guide was also endorsed by ASPHER, ASPPH, EUPHA, Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, Global Network for Academic Public Health, Lancet Countdown, Public Health Ethics and Law Global Network, and WFPHA. This workshop will familiarise participants with recent rights-based climate litigation and explore the role of public health professionals in identifying, collecting, storing, assessing and presenting this evidence in a form that is accessible to court officials without medical training.

First, there will be short presentations on 1) the role of the law in climate action and the role of scientific evidence of health harms in human rights litigation, and 2) How to collect and use scientific evidence of health harms in climate litigation (15 minutes). Small group discussions will follow, addressing questions such as: The health harm of climate change-related heat stress was a major factor in the 2024 decision of the European Court of Human Rights in KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland: What other health harms could support future cases? In what population groups? What opportunities do you see today for public health researchers and practitioners to compile such evidence to make the most compelling case? How can public health researchers and practitioners work more closely with legal experts and affected communities to bring this evidence to court? (20 minutes) The workshop will conclude with a plenary discussion of these questions and the small group responses. (25 minutes) As a result of the workshop, participants will be better prepared to identify opportunities to contribute compelling evidence of health harms in climate litigation.

Key messages

• Rigorous scientific evidence of climate change-related health harms is proving central to success in rights-based climate litigation.

• Public health professionals have a key role in identifying and presenting compelling evidence of health harms in climate litigation.

Speakers/Panelists

David Patterson

University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

Farhang Tahzib

Faculty of Public Health, Haywards Heath, UK