The World Health Organisation has clearly stated that air pollution is responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths per year. Simultaneously, devastating floods in Pakistan in recent years have displaced millions. These are not isolated incidents but part of a broader crisis where climate change and health inequalities intersect, disproportionately affecting marginalised communities.
What is Climate and Health Justice?
Climate justice argues that climate change is not only an environmental crisis; it is a justice issue that affects different people in different, and unequal ways. Similarly, a health justice lens shows us that the health of different people is shaped by structural (socio-political system) inequalities. Combining them together, we start to see how climate change profoundly and unequally affects our health. To unpick this, it’s important to first recognise that health is not an isolated biological status but is shaped by political, economic, and environmental structures. This is what makes health justice inseparable from climate justice.
Connecting the Dots
Climate change disproportionately affects the Global South, which are often left economically vulnerable from processes of colonisation, which stripped resource-rich countries of their wealth. Despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions, these nations often bear the brunt of climate change (extreme weather, rising sea levels, and resource scarcity). Some health consequences are visible, such as infections from flooding, yet others remain hidden, such as the emotional and physical toll on farmers facing financial insecurity after a flood from agricultural destruction.
The causes of land degradation, unsafe water, and industrial pollution can often be traced back to multinational corporations in fossil fuels, agriculture, and fashion. Wealthier nations, especially in the Global North, continue to extract resources and profit from these industries while failing to provide adequate compensation for their impacts. The economic precarity from this means that countries like Pakistan struggle to prepare for climate disasters through creating resilient infrastructure or health care systems.
Such inequalities also exist within the UK, disproportionately affecting low-income, racialized, and otherwise marginalised communities. For example, poorer neighbourhoods, where racialized communities, such as Black and South Asian populations, are more likely to live are often located near industrial sites or high-traffic areas. They experience higher levels of air pollution, leading to increased rates of lung diseases such as asthma.
Across regions, a common pattern emerges. Those with the least power, whether in the Global South or within wealthier nations, bear the greatest burden. Climate disruptions exacerbate existing health inequalities, disproportionately affecting chronically ill individuals, young people, and those in poor-quality housing. As such, the elderly and disabled are at greater risk from heatwaves and other climate disasters. Whether locally or globally, extreme weather events clearly hit vulnerable populations hardest.
These disparities are symptoms of systems that prioritise profit for a few over the health of many. For example, the same corporations polluting urban neighbourhoods in Britain are often also driving deforestation, resource extraction, and industrial emissions in countries least responsible for the climate crisis. Recognising these shared patterns helps understand why climate and health justice must be a unified, global struggle.
This is why solidarity across nations and communities is crucial. Pressuring governments for stronger environmental policies, holding corporations accountable, or supporting grassroots movements across borders show solidarity as both an ethical stance and also a strategic necessity. Only by dismantling the systems that allow these inequalities to persist can we achieve true climate and health justice anywhere.
So, What Do We Do?
While individual choices, such as reducing meat consumption or using public transport, are important contributions to lowering emissions, systemic transformation through collective action is essential for lasting change. Addressing climate and health justice requires creating systemic change at multiple scales: locally, nationally, and globally. These crises are not inevitable; they are shaped by government policies and corporate practices, but they can also be shaped by us: social movements! Action is needed in governance, grassroots activism, and public awareness to shift power and demand justice.
Weak regulations by Governments on air pollution, reliance on fossil fuels, and lack of investment in sustainable infrastructure worsen public health crises. Corporate accountability is equally important. Large corporations, such as Shell, contribute disproportionately while evading responsibility. Effective policies, such as fossil fuel phase-outs, climate adaptation funds, and stronger pollution controls, are necessary to prevent further harm.
Communities on the frontlines of climate change are also organising for environmental justice. Indigenous-led movements resist extractive industries, while urban activists fight for cleaner air and water in neglected neighbourhoods. Young people are also pushing for change, from school strikes to university divestment campaigns. Initiatives like UKYCC highlight the power of youth activism in shifting public discourse and pressuring policymakers. Education, which the Green School Revolution focuses on, plays a critical role in equipping people with the knowledge to challenge misinformation and advocate for systemic change in education.
There is always space, and an urgent need, for more people to join the movement. Climate and health justice is about reimagining and rebuilding systems that prioritise people and the planet over profit. Collective action, solidarity, and sustained pressure are the only ways to create a just and liveable future for all. The fight is ongoing, and the time to act is now.
Organisations to Support
o Youth Climate and Health Network
o Planetary Health Report Card
Resources
o The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change
o People’s Health Hearing Tribunal
o @Intersectionalenvironmentalist on Instagram