by Ira Dreyfuss, Public Affairs Advisor
Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health
November 2020
The world’s climate, as well as the United Kingdom’s health and economy, will be better off because of the UK government’s plan to require that all new cars and trucks be electric-powered starting as soon as 2030. Eliminating air pollution from future gas, diesel, and even hybrid cars will take a bite out of greenhouse gases. By helping to make the air cleaner, the payoff in avoided illness will be huge.
As an alliance of health care organizations deeply concerned about the worsening effects of the climate crisis, The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health applauds science-based policies aimed at stemming the damage and setting the world on the road to a healthier future.
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere know no borders, and their damage is widespread. Heat waves that have taken thousands of lives in Europe in recent years can be blamed in large part on carbon pollution from the world’s fossil fuels, including vehicle exhausts, as can lung and heart conditions that are well-known outcomes of the pollution’s carbon particulates.
Besides the many jobs to be created, lives improved and health costs to be avoided, the UK initiative provides a lesson in leading by doing – taking action against global warming. The Medical Society Consortium encourages other nations similarly to act boldly – to choose clean energy over fossil fuels and health over pollution.