Climate change is here: What will the profession of pharmacy do about it?

Abstract

Climate change is here. The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, authored by over 200 experts from more than 60 countries, stated that humans are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that have warmed the Earth approximately 1.1 °C since 1880.1 At the current rate, it is predicted that the global rise in temperature will reach or exceed 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052.2-4 There may be a tendency to interpret these findings as solely affecting the health of our environment and planet; however, there are catastrophic impacts from the Earth warming at this rate, both on human health and on the provision of healthcare services. Climate change resulting in extreme weather events has contributed to a rise in death resulting from interrupted healthcare delivery, poor air quality causing exacerbations of both respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, and increased spread of vector-borne diseases.5-8 Furthermore, research has demonstrated that rises in global temperature have led to a significant increase in heat-related deaths, and the World Health Organization estimates that there could be up to 250,000 additional annual deaths between 2030 and 2050 attributable to anthropogenic climate change.9