JEREMY FARRAR
SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
JEREMY FARRAR
TITLE: ASSISTANT DIRECTOR- GENERAL FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION AND CARE
COMPANY: WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
INDUSTRY: PUBLIC HEALTH
Dr Jeremy Farrar was previously the director of The Wellcome Trust and a professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford. He was the WHO’ s Chief Scientist and now leads its work on diseases, health, nutrition and other areas.
This can threaten food and water security, sanitation and cause downstream economic losses.
Hotter and drier conditions are increasing the risk of wildfires, and the report found that 2024 had a record- high 154,000 deaths from wildfire smoke-derived small particulate matter air pollution.
Weather conditions are also becoming more suitable for the spread of deadly infectious diseases, the report says.
The direct health impacts of climate change are compounded by socioeconomic impacts, with a recordhigh US $ 1.09tn in potential income losses from heat in 2024 and more than US $ 304bn in losses from weather-related extreme events.
“ The climate crisis is a health crisis. Every fraction of a degree of warming costs lives and livelihoods,” says Dr Jeremy Farrar, Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care at the World Health Organization.
“ This report, produced with WHO as a strategic partner, makes clear that climate inaction is killing people now in all countries.
“ However, climate action is also the greatest health opportunity of our time. Cleaner air, healthier diets, and resilient health systems can save millions of lives now and protect current and future generations.”
sustainabilitymag. com 71