@article{50423c0f23b74cd6a7875d9e1be3df7d,
title = "The 2022 report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: Australia unprepared and paying the price",
abstract = "The MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change in Australia was established in 2017 and produced its first national assessment in 2018 and annual updates in 2019, 2020 and 2021. It examines five broad domains: climate change impacts, exposures and vulnerability; adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. In this, the fifth year of the MJA-Lancet Countdown, we track progress on an extensive suite of indicators across these five domains, accessing and presenting the latest data and further refining and developing our analyses. Within just two years, Australia has experienced two unprecedented national catastrophes - the 2019-2020 summer heatwaves and bushfires and the 2021-2022 torrential rains and flooding. Such events are costing lives and displacing tens of thousands of people. Further, our analysis shows that there are clear signs that Australia's health emergency management capacity substantially decreased in 2021. We find some signs of progress with respect to health and climate change. The states continue to lead the way in health and climate change adaptation planning, with the Victorian plan being published in early 2022. At the national level, we note progress in health and climate change research funding by the National Health and Medical Research Council. We now also see an acceleration in the uptake of electric vehicles and continued uptake of and employment in renewable energy. However, we also find Australia's transition to renewables and zero carbon remains unacceptably slow, and the Australian Government's continuing failure to produce a national climate change and health adaptation plan places the health and lives of Australians at unnecessary risk today, which does not bode well for the future.",
keywords = "Humans, Climate Change, Australia, Renewable Energy, Health Planning, Mortality, Morbidity, Climate change, Health policy, Risk management, Health communication, Health financing, Population health",
author = "Beggs, {Paul J} and Ying Zhang and Alice McGushin and Stefan Trueck and Linnenluecke, {Martina K} and Hilary Bambrick and Capon, {Anthony G} and Sotiris Vardoulakis and Donna Green and Arunima Malik and Ollie Jay and Maddie Heenan and Hanigan, {Ivan C} and Sharon Friel and Mark Stevenson and Johnston, {Fay H} and Celia McMichael and Fiona Charlson and Woodward, {Alistair J} and Romanello, {Marina B}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Robert Fawcett, Justin Peter, Doerte Jakob and Elizabeth Ebert (all from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology) for contributing indicators 1.1 Exposure of vulnerable populations to heatwaves and 2.2 Climate information services for health. We thank Troy Cross (University of Sydney) for his assistance with the analysis for indicator 1.2 Heat impact on physical and sporting activities. The bushfires indicator (1.3) was generated with support from NASA Applied Sciences Program (grant no. 80NSSC21K0507), and we thank Yang Liu, Yun Hang and Liuhua Shi (all from Emory University) for the Australian data used for this indicator, and Nicolas Borchers-Arriagada (University of Tasmania) for visualisation of the data. We thank the Lancet Countdown for providing the results for indicators 3.6 Emissions from agricultural production and consumption, 3.7 Diet and health co-benefits, and 3.8 Mitigation in the health care sector. We thank Lucie Rychetnik (Sax Institute) for feedback and input on indicator 5.3 Government engagement in health and climate change. We thank the NHMRC for providing the data for indicator 5.4 Health and climate change research funding. Funding Information: We thank Robert Fawcett, Justin Peter, Doerte Jakob and Elizabeth Ebert (all from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology) for contributing indicators 1.1 Exposure of vulnerable populations to heatwaves and 2.2 Climate information services for health. We thank Troy Cross (University of Sydney) for his assistance with the analysis for indicator 1.2 Heat impact on physical and sporting activities. The bushfires indicator (1.3) was generated with support from NASA Applied Sciences Program (grant no. 80NSSC21K0507), and we thank Yang Liu, Yun Hang and Liuhua Shi (all from Emory University) for the Australian data used for this indicator, and Nicolas Borchers‐Arriagada (University of Tasmania) for visualisation of the data. We thank the Countdown for providing the results for indicators 3.6 Emissions from agricultural production and consumption, 3.7 Diet and health co‐benefits, and 3.8 Mitigation in the health care sector. We thank Lucie Rychetnik (Sax Institute) for feedback and input on indicator 5.3 Government engagement in health and climate change. We thank the NHMRC for providing the data for indicator 5.4 Health and climate change research funding. Lancet Funding Information: 5.4 Health and climate change research funding 22 Box Funded and not‐funded National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant applications with a focus on health and climate change, and success rate, 2000–2021 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.",
year = "2022",
month = nov,
day = "7",
doi = "10.5694/mja2.51742",
language = "English",
volume = "217",
pages = "439--458",
journal = "The Medical journal of Australia",
issn = "0025-729X",
publisher = "Australasian Medical Publishing Co. Ltd",
number = "9",
}
