The 2024 China report of the "Countdown on Health and Climate Change" (referred to as the "China Report") was unveiled in Beijing. Present at the event were Wang Hongwei, Vice President of Tsinghua University;
The 2024 China report of the "Countdown on Health and Climate Change" (referred to as the "China Report") was unveiled in Beijing. Present at the event were Wang Hongwei, Vice President of Tsinghua University; Martin Taylor, WHO Representative in China; Li Xiaocui, Deputy Director of the Health and Immunization Planning Department of the National CDC; Helena Wang, Senior Executive Editor for Asia at The Lancet; Zheng Zhijie, Chief Representative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Beijing Office; and Gong Peng, Global Co-Chair of the Countdown project and Vice President of Hong Kong University. The event was hosted by Luo Yong, Director of Tsinghua University's Earth System Science Department and Co-Chair of the Lancet Countdown Asia Center.
The China Report was led by experts from Tsinghua University's Earth Sciences Department, with contributions from 77 specialists from 28 domestic and international institutions. It systematically tracks health risks related to climate change across provinces and introduces new indicators such as compound exposure and carbon emissions from healthcare systems, along with future projections. The report emphasizes that climate change is a major health risk in China, necessitating both mitigation and adaptation efforts. There is an urgent need for increased funding, collaborative pollution reduction initiatives, interdepartmental cooperation, and enhanced precision health meteorological services. Since the first release of the China Report in 2020, significant progress has been made in establishing a response framework centered around the "National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation (2024-2030)" and a “1+N” policy system for peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Some cities have developed advanced practices that lay a solid foundation for China's low-carbon health journey after COP28.