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The interaction between our global economy and planetary health is a dynamic and complex relationship, centred on economic activities and systems that impact the overall health and sustainability of the planet. Economic decisions such as resource allocation, consumption patterns and industrial practices have profound consequences for the environment, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution. The concept of climate justice calls for an intersectional approach to adress such factors in a holistic way as it acknowledges and highlights the disproportional impacts of climate change globally.

In general, climate change is having an increasingly large impact on the global economy. Projections suggest that the global economy could decline by 10% by 2050 if emissions reduction targets are not reached. Specifically for health economics, climate change carries several risks, such as heat-related diseases, respiratory problems, vector-borne diseases and mental health problems. Climate change-attributed economic costs from extreme weather events vary between 0.05% to 0.82% of global gross domestic product (GDP) annually. East Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change worldwide. Especially fragile states, like Somalia or Sudan suffer extremely from climate-related shocks although they contributed the least to climate change. Droughts in fragile states are expected to cut about 0.2 percentage points from their per-capita GDP growth every year.

The category gives an overview on the impact of our current global economy systems on planetary health as a whole and explores how a transition towards more sustainable economic models and a climate just world could look like.

Learning objectives:

• Learners will be able to recognize the linkage between economics and planetary health and discuss strategies for a new global economic system.

• Learners will be able to describe the principals of climate justice.