FSRH Climate Statement

The FSRH recognises we are currently in a climate crisis ⁽¹⁾, which threatens the health of populations in the UK and globally and has a disproportionately harmful effect on women’s health and wellbeing ⁽²⁾.

Climate change negatively affects health in multiple ways including through exposure to extreme weather conditions, access to clean water, increased respiratory diseases and access to food and land rights. The effects are exacerbated by poverty. Women are more likely to live in poverty and have less access to human rights globally, and therefore are disproportionately affected ⁽³⁾. Climate disasters and climate migration have been shown to affect access to sexual and reproductive health services ^(3a).

As a member organisation of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC), and an organisation dedicated to women’s health, we support the UKHACC’s call for urgent action to prevent an increase in mean global temperatures of more than 1.5oC, and to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency on environmental and human health ⁽⁴⁾, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 3,5 and 13 ⁽⁵⁾.

We therefore urge national and international leaders to fulfil their promises from COP26 and beyond to limit global warming ⁽⁶⁾ and to promote gender transformative climate action such as through the climate National Adaptation Plans process⁽⁷⁾ and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ⁽⁸⁾.  

What the FSRH is currently doing

• We are committed to reducing our impact on the climate and planet.
• As of 2021, all staff pensions have been reallocated into funds that apply environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. 
• Our investment portfolio is based on ethical choices and we are undertaking a review to align investment strategy to ESG principles
• We are a member of the UK Health Alliance for Climate Change (UKHACC). The UKHACC bring together doctors, nurses and other health professionals to advocate for responses to climate change that protect and promote public health. The group coordinates action, provides leadership and helps amplify the voices of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals across the UK.
• We are adopting a framework for virtual/online meetings/conferences in combination with one face to face meeting per committee per annum, to support effective meetings, accessibility and to enable reduced travel.  
• We will continue to provide remote accessibility to all our activities. Many of our meetings are conducted entirely remotely.
• We promote hybrid working for our staff, reducing our travel footprint where delivery of work from home is suitable
• Our use of paper is reducing increasingly with our records moved primarily to electronic storage, and dissemination
   

(1) The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future

(2) Press release: UN Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms women's and girls' leadership as key to address climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction for all

(3) Climate change and women's health: Impacts and policy directions - PMC

(3a) Frontiers | A Scoping Review to Assess Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes, Challenges and Recommendations in the Context of Climate Migration

(4) Join Our Call for Climate Action

(5) THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development

(6) COP26

(7) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes

(8) UNFCCC