As a health organisation, we see the growing impact climate change has on health daily.
More community members are experiencing heat-related illness during our hot summers and climate anxiety year-round. The lack of action from global leaders to slow climate change and global warming has many worrying about our future.
Australia is in a methane emissions crisis. Methane is a highly polluting greenhouse gas, leaking from Australian coal and gas projects and speeding up global warming at an alarming rate. It has also been proven to damage airways, trigger asthma attacks, and aggravate lung diseases, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.
We need the government to act faster in switching to renewable energy. Together with Health Future’s and other healthcare organisations, we are urging the government to speed up the move to renewable energy, By creating a plan to monitor and reduce harmful methane emissions, government can do what is needed to protect the health of future generations.
To find out more and support the Methane Zero campaign, visit healthyfutures.net.au/methane_zero
Our full statement:
As a community-based healthcare organisation, we are witnessing firsthand the increasing health impacts of climate change. Whilst we welcome positive announcements relating to climate action and the transition to renewables as part of the 2024-2025 Federal Budget, we remain deeply concerned about Australia’s harmful methane emissions through the continued funding of coal and gas projects. The pace and scale of government action to transition to renewables must drastically increase to minimise the impact climate change has on health, and to protect the wellbeing of future generations.
Your Community Health (YourCH) delivers a range of health and wellbeing services in the Northern region of Melbourne, engaging with local communities to ensure inclusive and accessible services for those who need them most. Our local area faces significant challenges: an ageing population, higher rates of social disadvantage, a high density of poorly insulated public and social housing, and low levels of tree cover, making it particularly vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. Alongside the clear impact climate change is having on the physical health of our community, we are also witnessing a rise in climate-related anxiety, as people express worry and fear that global leaders are not taking the urgent actions required to protect the environment from irreversible damage.
We know that methane emissions are a major driver of climate change and pose severe health risks. Methane is a super-polluting greenhouse gas, 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. It is currently pouring out of Australian coal and gas projects and into our atmosphere, accelerating global warming and contaminating the air, water, and soil that humans depend on. Australia’s Future Gas Strategy articulates a reliance on the production and consumption of gas until at least 2050 as part of the transition plan to renewables. This long-term commitment to gas will have major health and healthcare implications and is a decision incongruent with the advice of climate and health advocacy organisations. Methane has been proven to damage airways, trigger asthma attacks, and aggravate lung diseases, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Our reliance on coal and gas also reduces the likelihood of achieving our commitment to reach 1.5ºC Paris Agreement compatibility. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that fugitive methane emissions from coal and gas projects are likely significantly higher than the Australian government’s estimates due to the use of outdated estimation techniques.
YourCH joins Healthy Future’s and many other healthcare organisations urging the government to expediate the transition to renewables and implement a plan to monitor, regulate and reduce harmful methane emissions as fast as possible.
YourCH is committed to reducing our own carbon footprint and contributing to a more environmentally sustainable healthcare system, as articulated in our 2022-2026 Climate Action Plan. YourCH is a proud member of the Climate and Health Alliance and the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network. We will continue to collaborate with our peers and community to achieve a greener and healthier future.