Health experts: Battling warming is win-win - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Health experts: Battling warming is win-win - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Battling warming is win-win, health experts say
Cutting carbon can also mean reducing illness-causing pollutants

BANGKOK, Thailand - Countries that start battling global warming now won't have to wait generations to see the rewards: Burning cleaner fuels can yield immediate health benefits that save lives and money, world health experts say.

A climate change conference in Bangkok this week has centered on the high cost of promoting greener policies. But governments should consider how much they will save in medical costs by adopting policies that minimize heat waves, disease and water scarcity resulting from rising temperatures, the scientists said.

Big developing countries like China and India can play a huge role in improving health by expanding their use of cleaner energy sources, said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, an expert on global environmental change and health at the World Health Organization.

"The policy options that you choose to try to cut (carbon dioxide) emissions also have very important health effects," he said from the agency's headquarters in Geneva. "If you choose the right ones, then you can certainly have a win-win at cutting CO2 emissions and directly benefiting health."

Urban air pollution, for example, kills about 800,000 people a year globally, according to WHO. More than half of those deaths occur in China, the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the United States, the agency said.

Promoting walking or bicycling instead of driving could further reduce major health problems like diabetes and heart disease that are striking many rapidly developing countries, Campbell-Lendrum said.

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists, was being hammered out for a fourth day Thursday by conference delegates from more than 120 countries. A final version was expected by Friday.