On the 28th and 29th of October, Senior EU Policy Advisor Roberta Savli and Treasurer of the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) participated in their Annual General Assembly in Brussels. The two-day meeting focused on two topics of crucial importance for the European Union in the weeks and months to come.
Roberta chaired a workshop on the link between climate change and health, which, in addition to HEAL President Peter Van Den Hazel, saw the participation of the European Commission for Health and Food Safery Vytenis Andriukatis with a video message on the need to act to tackle climate change and Mrs Sarah Blau, Climate Attaché in the Luxembourg Permanent Representation to the European Union.
As Luxembourg holds the Presidency of the EU, she will be the one dealing with the climate negotiations in Paris in the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The meeting is taking place in December and HEAL is organising some side events to highlight the clear link with health outcomes and the need to act to mitigate climate change. As the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate warned last June, climate change is a medical emergency, but policies to tackle it represent the biggest public health opportunities in the 21st century.