MEDIA STATEMENT, 26 September 2019

Members of OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council will join climate events around the country this Friday, 27 September, and are issuing a symbolic medical certificate, as part of the global strikes for climate movement.

“We are taking to the streets tomorrow to show our solidarity with striking students, because to avert the climate crisis requires collective action. As health workers we see it as our professional duty to urge leaders to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Dr Rhys Jones, Co-convenor of OraTaiao.

MEDIA RELEASE, 29 August 2019

This morning at Environment Select Committee hearings, five health sector groups representing more than 55,000 health workers, called for health and fairness to be at the heart of a strengthened Zero Carbon Bill.

“We support a Zero Carbon Bill to help us stay within 1.5 degrees of global warming to protect people’s wellbeing from the impacts of climate change. It also needs to be strengthened to take advantage of the huge opportunities of well-designed climate policy for better health and wellbeing. With well-designed climate policy we would expect to see substantial health gains,” says Dr Alexandra Macmillan, Co-convenor, OraTaiao: NZ Climate & Health Council.

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT, 9 August 2019

The New Zealand Climate & Health Council and health promotion charity Doctors for Nutrition strongly support the new Sustainability and the Health Sector guidance announced last week as it will result in a much healthier population.

“People and the planet will both be healthier if we shift towards a plant-based diet, and cut back on meat and dairy, as recommended,” according to Dr Alex Macmillan, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: The NZ Climate and Health Council.

MEDIA STATEMENT

8 May 2019

Health professionals have offered a mixed response to the Zero Carbon Bill, which was introduced into Parliament today. They applaud its purpose to prevent global warming of more than 1.5 degrees, but say aspects of the bill lack the necessary urgency and accountability.

“The Bill’s targets as they stand today would be too little, too late,” said Dr Rhys Jones, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council. “The Zero Carbon Bill is too weak on agricultural emissions which comprise almost half of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions. We need to see a move away from beef and dairy for both the sake of human and planetary health.”

MEDIA RELEASE

8 May 2019

Health workers delivered a strong message to the Coalition Government at the National Forum on Sustainable Healthcare today. They are asking for urgent policy to ensure that District Health Boards (DHBs) and the wider health sector are held accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint.

An open letter to the Ministers of Health and Climate Change was presented. Signed by over 900 New Zealand healthcare workers wanting change, the message to the Government is that the health sector is ready to lead NZ to a sustainable and healthy future.

MEDIA RELEASE

26 March 2019

Health professionals have expressed concern about a newly-released report by New Zealand’s Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment examining how to deal with greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. While the report contains some useful ideas, they say, it fails to hold the agricultural sector accountable for its harm to both the environment and human health.

In considering the merits of potential policy options, the report proposes leaving biological emissions out of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and instead taking a ‘landscape approach’ to managing climate and environmental issues. It effectively undermines the case for the agricultural sector to immediately face a price on biological emissions under the ETS.

MEDIA STATEMENT
13 March 2019

Health professionals are pledging their support for school students around New Zealand who will be striking this Friday to call for meaningful action on climate change.

“As health professionals we know that climate change is already affecting the wellbeing of children and young people,” says Dr Alex Macmillan, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: The NZ Climate and Health Council.

“For as long as adults in leadership and government fail to act adequately to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we will support school students to strike in protection of their own futures.”

MEDIA STATEMENT
18 January 2018

New Zealand health professionals are applauding a landmark report that outlines how to achieve healthy and sustainable eating patterns for a future global population of 10 billion people.

The report was produced by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health – a partnership between a global non-profit group and one of the world’s leading medical journals. It is the product of three years of work by 37 international experts working across a range of scientific disciplines.

MEDIA STATEMENT
29 November 2018

A newly released report highlights that climate change poses an unacceptably high level of risk for the health of populations around the world.

The 2018 Lancet Countdown report, released today ahead of the international climate change negotiations, was jointly authored by leading doctors, academics and policy professionals from 27 organisations. It tracks the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the associated health threats and opportunities.

“The report shows that our lack of progress threatens both human lives and the viability of national health systems they depend on,” says Dr Rhys Jones, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: The NZ Climate and Health Council.