A new report reveals the severe and wide-ranging damage that fossil fuels inflict on human health, from the earliest stages of life to old age
A groundbreaking report from the Global Climate and Health Alliance warns that fossil fuels are harming human health from birth to old age. Titled “Cradle to Grave: The Health Toll of Fossil Fuels and the Imperative for a Just Transition,” it details how the extraction, refining, transportation, and burning of fossil fuels contribute to miscarriages, childhood leukaemia, asthma, cancer, strokes, and mental health issues.
The report underscores the fact that the most vulnerable, low-income communities and marginalised groups bear the brunt of the health impacts of fossil fuels.
Pollution affect all aspects of life
Fossil fuel-related pollution affects every stage of life, from fetal development to old age. The health harms associated with fossil fuels are severe and occur throughout their entire lifecycle, including extraction, refining, transport, storage, combustion, and disposal.
The impacts of fossil fuels are not limited to initial exposure; they are persistent and systemic, affecting communities long after the source of pollution has occurred. Importantly, these harms are unevenly and unjustly distributed, disproportionately impacting marginalised communities and low-income nations.
Beyond individual health, fossil fuels drive broader societal health impacts and exacerbate pre-existing health disparities within communities and across countries. Despite this, climate and health policies have largely failed to address these multidimensional harms.
The actual cost of fossil fuels
The cost of inaction is escalating, with global fossil fuel subsidies estimated at US$7 trillion. This includes explicit subsidies, such as tax breaks and price caps, as well as implicit subsidies from unpriced health, environmental, and societal damages caused by fossil fuel production and use.
The need for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean, affordable, renewable energy for all, is urgent to safeguard the health of people worldwide.
“Fossil fuels are a direct assault on health, harming us at every stage of their lifecycle and every stage of our lives, from the womb to old age, driving miscarriages, childhood leukemia, asthma, cancer, strokes, and mental health crises”, said report author Shweta Narayan, Campaign Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, a consortium of more than 200 health professional and health civil society organisations and networks from around the world addressing climate change.
“Fossil fuels’ toxic legacy persists for decades in our air, water, and bodies, exposing communities throughout the world, and imposing a hefty burden on marginalised communities”, Narayan continued. “Even if carbon emissions were captured tomorrow, fossil fuels would still poison, displace, and destabilise. Not only are they a climate problem, fossil fuels are driving a global public health emergency.”
“Fossil fuels are not just an environmental crisis—they are a public health emergency”, Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, Malaysia. “As health professionals, we know the cost of inaction is measured in lives. A just transition is both imperative and possible: a prescription for cleaner air, healthier communities, and intergenerational justice. The time for bold action is now.”
“Enough is enough – around the world, policymakers must put an end to the damage the outrageous and irresponsible ongoing pursuit of fossil fuel production is inflicting upon our health, said Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “Cradle to Grave delivers a staggering overview of the sheer scale and range of health issues and impacts, including how our bodily functions are being impaired by the extraction and use of fossil fuels, and the global scale of the problem. No one is exempt from the toxic exposures caused by our addiction to fossil fuels. Political leaders already know the solutions for ending fossil fuel dependence and know that further delay is indefensible – all that is required is political courage.”
