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30/4/2015

Fossil fuels - the new tobacco?

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This morning the Guardian newspaper published an open letter from medical students worldwide calling on the health sector, in particular the Wellcome Trust and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to divest from the fossil fuel industry. It's no surprise that we're signatories; but we're small fry compared to the others - the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA), the Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA), the Canadian Federation of Medical Students Global Health Programme, Medsin, and Doctors for the Environment Australia, to name a few.
You can read the full text of the letter (with references) on our website, and further Guardian coverage here. The letter comes on the back of the publication of our Unhealthy Investments report outlining the medical, moral, and financial case for divestment, and the Guardian's own 'Keep it in the Ground' campaign, launched last month. The Guardian petition inviting Wellcome and the Gates Foundation to divest has already attracted well over 180,000 signatures, and has provoked major debate within health circles and beyond, including two articles by Wellcome director Jeremy Farrar outlining the Trust's position (you can find our response here).
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12/4/2015

Keep it in the Ground: engagement or divestment?

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You may have noticed a running theme in the posts on the HPblog recently; we’ve been working a lot on divestment – convincing the health sector to stop funding the companies driving climate change, and instead to take its commitment to ‘do no harm’ seriously and move its money towards those working to achieve the energy transition our planet and our health requires. Health sector divestment has taken a huge step forward in the past month, since the Guardian newspaper launched its ‘Keep it in the Ground’ campaign, calling for divestment from the fossil fuel industry. What’s particularly notable about the campaign is their chosen targets – the two biggest private global health funding organisations in the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

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The front cover of the 17th March edition of the Guardian, launching the Keep it in the Ground campaign
It’s hard for anyone with more than a passing interest in global health to criticise the Wellcome Trust; Wellcome-funded research has achieved extraordinary advances in healthcare. They are more willing than others to fund research involving higher levels of risk, complexity and uncertainty, an approach typified by their making exploration of the connections between environment, nutrition and health one of their five ‘key challenges’. Moreover, their commitment to transparency – whether in championing open access to scientific research or in making the details of their investments freely available to the public – pervades all the Trust’s actions. But there would be little virtue in such openness if none were willing to challenge them when mistaken. Their stance on continued investment in the fossil fuel industry – as outlined in a recent Guardian article by Director Jeremy Farrar – demands such a challenge.

We agree with much of what Farrar has to say. That climate change, as one of the greatest threats to global health of the 21st century, demands concerted action from health organisations. That this requires a commitment to a rapid decarbonisation of the global economy in order to remain within a 2C warming carbon budget. And that consideration of the impacts on human health and wellbeing need to be at the forefront in planning a just and sustainable transition. However, where we disagree is in the role of fossil fuels – and the fossil fuel industry – in making that transition.
Farrar maintains that fossil fuels are “essential to the economy, life, and health,” pointing to the role fossil fuel energy has played in driving development in many low- and middle-income countries, with consequent health benefits. While we do not dispute the role of fossil fuel energy as an engine of growth and better health, Farrar errs in mistaking this historical accident for a physical necessity. In fact, renewables are better placed to bring the health benefits of energy access to the world’s developing economies, particularly for the 84% of communities lacking energy living in rural areas where grid expansion is prohibitively expensive. And renewable energy will not undermine this progress with negative local health impacts like the air pollution from coal that now costs China 4% of its GDP. And of course, any health improvements from development will fail to materialise if that development is undermined by a warming world, the health impacts of which will hit the poorest hardest.

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Unhealthy development: Smog in China, where the health impacts of air pollution from coal power already account for 4% of the country's GDP
He also proposes that it is from within the fossil fuel industry that the necessary decarbonisation will come, and the best way to achieve that is from within, as an active and engaged shareholder. But it is difficult to see how shareholder engagement alone could bring about the scale of transition needed with the required urgency (the IPCC’s 2C carbon budget will be exhausted by 2036 at current rates). Health institutions, more than any other organisations, should be aware that businesses stop responding to shareholder engagement when that engagement challenges the very core of their business model – it’s why it failed with the tobacco industry, and why it’s failing now with fossil fuels. Farrar is optimistic about the role of fossil fuels in a low-carbon economy – citing natural gas and carbon capture and storage as central components – but it is hard to reconcile this position with evidence that half of already-known gas reserves will have to remain unburned to stay under 2C, and that CCS will do nothing to alleviate the health burden of particulate air pollution.

Nonetheless, selective engagement may have its place alongside divestment. But it is only possible with companies who display a realistic commitment to keeping warming under 2C – one that moves beyond words.  We applaud the Trust’s acknowledgement of the inconsistency of coal and tar sands development with a healthy climate. But so too is pursuing Arctic drilling, not to mention funding attempts to undermine climate science or legislative efforts on mitigation policy – of which companies in which the Trust invests are guilty. For companies that fall short of the required action, divestment must follow.

While we focus here on the Wellcome Trust, that is only because their commitment to public debate permits us to engage in this conversation. The same arguments apply to all health sector organisations, who share the same responsibilities for health of people and planet alike.

If, like us, you're convinced that it's time for health organisations to ditch their dirty investments, here are a few things you can do:

  1. Sign the Guardian petition on the Keep it in the Ground campaign website, and share with friends, colleagues, tutors and anyone else who might be interested.
  2. If you're a health worker supportive of the campaign, get in touch with the Guardian (and/or us!) as they are looking for support, and possible spokespeople.
  3. Are you funded by Gates, Wellcome or other grant organisations whose dirty energy investments are undermining your research? Then write to them, or let us know to help coordinate a collective demonstration of the inconsistency of better health and fossil fuel dependence.
  4. Read more in our Unhealthy Investments report.

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