Planetary health links human well-being with ecosystem health, emphasizing biodiversity loss as a driver of respiratory conditions like asthma and allergies.
At the 2025 European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Amsterdam, a closing session delivered a plain message: climate change, biodiversity loss, and respiratory health are inseparable—and must be addressed through medical education, clinical practice, and public policy acting in concert.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
The Planetary Health Frame: Biodiversity Loss and the Air We Breathe
Speakers defined planetary health as the recognition that human well-being depends on ecosystem health, with biodiversity loss emerging as a direct driver of asthma, allergies, and other respiratory conditions. The burden of climate change, moderators stressed, is not only rising temperatures but worsening respiratory disease.
Hanna Haveri, a neurologist and planetary health physician from Lati, Finland, speaking within the country’s Nature Step program, detailed how reconnecting people with green environments supports immune and respiratory health. Finland’s National Asthma Allergy Program cut health care expenditures by 30% while improving patient care, and the “Nature’s Debt to Health” initiative showed how nature contact can bolster outcomes.
Haveri also underscored a dual reality: health care is both healer and polluter. The sector contributes substantially to ecological burdens, demanding innovations that lower emissions while improving patient care. She pointed to localized solutions—sustainable diets, municipal partnerships, and expanded urban nature—as practical ways to deliver co-benefits for people and ecosystems. “We have to combine our experiences and find each expert’s strengths,” she said, calling for strong networks at every level.
Climate Change as a Health and Equity Crisis
Liz Grant, assistant principal and professor of global health and development at the University of Edinburgh, described climate change as an immediate health crisis, already visible in rising costs, lost labor productivity, and strain on health systems. She emphasized that health care is itself a driver of emissions, ranking among the world’s major greenhouse-gas sources, and urged reforms in greener procurement and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Grant highlighted climate justice: disadvantaged communities bear the greatest harms while contributing least to emissions. Equitable adaptation, she argued, requires policy that values health co-benefits, integrates health into national climate commitments, and strengthens cross-sector collaboration.
Education First: Embedding Planetary Health in Training and Practice
Both speakers framed education as the cornerstone of progress. Grant outlined how planetary health is being integrated into the medical curriculum at Edinburgh. Haveri described Finland’s voluntary courses and urged embedding environmental sustainability into everyday clinical practice. The session closed with concrete steps:
- Collaborate with municipalities and food systems to make sustainable choices easier;
- Promote care practices that reduce environmental impact;
- Pitch health co-benefits as incentives for climate action;
- Introduce planetary health from the first year of medical and nursing training.
In discussion, speakers and audience returned to preventive care, community engagement, and urban green spaces as levers to reduce respiratory disease while protecting the planet. The shared message: planetary health is not a future agenda item but a present necessity, requiring collaboration across health, policy, and ecological systems.
Planetary health links the clinic to the climate. By aligning education, service reform, and local nature-based solutions with equity-focused policy, the respiratory community can act on the full chain—from biodiversity loss to asthma and allergies—and deliver care that is healthier for patients and the planet. As Grant concluded: the climate crisis asks “what do we value… what needs to change… and what is the language of change?”
Lead image courtesy of alones – stock.adobe.com
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