We are pleased to announce the publication of our new report, Advancing and integrating U.S. climate and health policies: Insights from national policy stakeholders.
Policymakers, researchers, advocates, and others are increasingly considering how national policy can best advance climate change solutions that protect health, as well as health solutions that protect the climate. They are grappling with critical questions regarding to what extent, in what ways, and how climate policy and health policy should be integrated through U.S. federal policy.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust and in partnership with researchers from six other countries/regions, we have been conducting research for the past year to help support these deliberations. Our new report focuses on national policymaking in the United States. It will be followed by reports for Brazil, the Caribbean, Germany, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, as well as an international synthesis report in January 2025.
The report presents our findings from interviews with 65 federal policy stakeholders in Congressional offices, federal agencies, think tanks, academic institutions, and advocacy organizations who work on climate policy, health policy, the climate-health nexus, and related areas such as energy, emergency response, housing, and transportation.
Key findings:
- Participants think national climate and health policies are not yet well integrated in the U.S. There is limited interaction between climate and health stakeholders, and little climate-health legislation has been enacted. However, they reported that, due to the advocacy community’s efforts and the Biden administration’s leadership, climate and health policy are becoming better integrated.
- Most participants believe that climate and health policies should be further integrated. They feel that integrating climate and health policy makes sense given the inherent interrelatedness of the issues. Furthermore, they believe that integration can help maximize the health benefits of climate policies and vice versa, and a focus on health can build support for climate policy.
- Key barriers to climate and health policy advancement and integration include: limited funding; political polarization; silos between federal agencies and between climate and health stakeholders; limited awareness of climate-health links; and insufficient data on (1) the health harms of climate change and associated economic costs, (2) the health benefits of climate solutions and associated cost savings, and (3) the outcomes of existing programs.
- There are promising opportunities for advancing climate and health policies. Awareness and concern about climate change and its intersection with health is growing among both policymakers and the public, and additional resources are emerging in the form of new data, technologies, and funding opportunities. Climate solutions themselves constitute an economic opportunity to reduce healthcare costs. Policy topics identified as especially feasible for advancing climate and health goals include the Farm Bill, carbon border adjustments, clean energy permitting, and changes to transportation infrastructure.
- When communicating about climate and health, advocates should frame climate change as a health issue, discuss economic impacts, and leverage health professionals as trusted messengers.
- Participants recommended educating stakeholders about climate and health to address low public awareness, which was identified as a barrier. They recommended accelerating research on climate-health impacts and solutions to address the current lack of data. To overcome silos in federal agencies, they recommended central coordination of inter- and intra-agency climate-health initiatives, further institutionalizing climate and health initiatives in federal agencies, and passing congressional policies.
- To advance policies despite political polarization, participants recommended using incentives and adaptation before regulations and mitigation, respectively, and disaggregating policies when needed. To address the lack of dedicated funding, they recommended tapping into existing funds (such as Inflation Reduction Act funds) and developing creative financing mechanisms. To overcome structural barriers such as the influence of money in politics, they recommended using advocacy to build grassroots power and cultivate climate and health policy champions.
These findings briefly preview the array of insights unearthed through our stakeholder interviews. We believe these findings have relevant implications for the various communities of practice interested in advancing and integrating climate and health policy in the U.S. We hope that stakeholders in those communities will consider them carefully.
Citation
Fine, J., Ettinger, J., Kotcher, J., Mildenberger, M., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2024). Advancing and integrating U.S. climate and health policies: Insights from national policy stakeholders, George Mason University. Fairfax, VA, USA: George Mason University Center on Climate Change Communication. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/9CNPX
Funding Sources
We thank Wellcome Trust for funding this research.