Burning fossil fuels causes one death every five seconds, says WHO

WATCH: The WHO's Team Lead talks to CGTN about his hopes for COP28

The World Health Organization's team lead for climate change and health delivered a stark warning as world leaders prepare for COP28 in Dubai later this week.

"We can make no mistake about it. If we don't address the climate crisis, then we basically close the door on a livable future for humanity," Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum told CGTN Europe.

After a year of record heat and drought, this year's UN climate summit will feature a contentious set of issues for countries working to find common ground in tackling climate change, including whether to phase out fossil fuels and how to finance the energy transition in developing countries.

The main task at COP28 is a first-time assessment of countries' progress towards meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement's goal of limiting the global temperature rise to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, while aiming for 1.5C.

Campbell-Lendrum, though, remains hopeful progress can be made, especially with the WHO set to lead the first-ever day dedicated to health at COP on December 3.

"This will be a historic day, he added. "It's the first day, the first stop at which we have a dedicated health day. That means there have been 27 COPs where countries have been negotiating and they've been actually negotiating with human lives. They just didn't realize it in many cases. 

"So the real importance of this day and we think this COP overall is to make clear that as countries decide how they will address the climate crisis, how quickly they will address the climate crisis that they take into account health as they as they make those decisions. 

"If we do address the climate crisis, this is potentially the greatest health opportunity that we've ever seen, as we shift to a cleaner, more sustainable future with cleaner air, more sustainable and healthier diets and so on."

The toughest talks at COP28 may focus on the future role of fossil fuels, and whether countries should commit to start phasing out the use of CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas. Countries agreed at COP26 to phase down the use of coal, but they have never agreed to quit all fossil fuels - the main source of planet-warming emissions.

READ MORE

What we know about the Israel-Hamas truce deal

German police raid pro-Palestinian and far right properties

Sweden threatens to deport law-breaking immigrants

Campbell-Lendrum emphasized the huge impact climate change can have on human health and wellbeing.  

"Even with the one degree centigrade increase in temperature that we've experienced so far, we're seeing more extreme heatwaves around the world and that kills tens of thousands of people. We see more extreme wildfires as land and trees dry out and as temperatures increase, that leads to peaks of air pollution, which take lives," he said.

"We also see the undermining of the basic environmental determinants of health - the availability of clean and safe water, the availability of sufficient food and even the habitability of some small island developing nations. 

"The final thing is that the causes of climate change - like combustion of fossil fuels - also take many lives. We lose about seven million lives a year, or about a life every five seconds from air pollution. A large part of that is from burning fossil fuels that drives climate change."

To combat the climate crisis, Campbell-Lendrum said a shift to renewable energy was crucial, as well as protecting food systems.

"One of the things we have to do is to make health systems more resilient to climate change, but also put into place the investments so that they don't emit any more carbon than they need to." he said.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday