Climate conference: Good COP or Bad COP

GP Frontline: Opinion

By Dr Terry Kemple, RCGP UK representative for Sustainability, Climate Change and Green Issues; Dr Aarti Bansal (England); Dr Munro Stewart (Scotland); Dr Sarah Williams (Wales); and Dr Dr Bláthnaid Carlin (Northern Ireland)

What will our lives be like in 2050? What we know for sure is that our world and how we can live and thrive will be changed. Our future depends on the actions we take this decade; on the choices that we make now. The choice of actions is between trying to continue business as usual or starting and completing a great transformation in how we all live and work.

For 12 days in November, Glasgow hosts COP26, the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Will it be a good COP or a bad COP?

A good COP will build on the Paris Climate Agreement made at COP21 in 2015. All nations committed to combat climate change and adapt to its adverse effects. There are already big gaps between what was agreed, what has been achieved and what needs to be done. In 2021, a good outcome will be commitment to a path that leads to a 50% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This is our best chance to protect the world from the more severe effects of climate change. The goal is to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

There is evidence and guidance available on what we can do in our practices for a sustainable future

Achieving this goal will not stop climate change. We have already reached 1.2°C warming and even if we stop emitting all greenhouse gases today, some warming will continue. Climate change is happening now and will get worse in our lifetimes. Ninety percent of the world’s population will face one or more of the main threats that include flooding, heat stress, water stress, wildfires, hurricanes and sea level rise. These modern plagues may have other consequences including mass migrations from the worst affected areas. In the UK we may avoid the worst of these climate changes, but we will have more frequent and worse flooding events.

The best result at COP26 will be that we all work towards the 1.5°C goal and embrace the many deep and rapid changes needed across most of human activity.

General Practitioners should choose the ‘good cop’ role and work towards the 1.5°C goal. The public will look to the those whom they trust to lead the way with evidence and action. Many of the changes will improve our health through better diets, increased active travel, cleaner air and more access to nature.

Politicians need doctors to highlight the compelling health reasons for climate action, and boost public consent for change. Practices should be planning how to manage this challenging future of new threats and great changes and be influential role models for change in our communities.

There is evidence and guidance available on what we can do in our practices for a sustainable future. The first step is to check the advice on the RCGP website’s sustainability page. The next step is to join Greener Practice the national hub for the local support networks that will help general practices in the transition to environmentally sustainable healthcare.

To be able to look forward to a safe and secure future we must act now. A bad cop role will be to ignore the threats and remain unprepared for the challenges of the climate crisis and leave us living unhealthy lives on an unhealthy planet. The ‘good cop’ is the right role for general practice. •