FOSSIL FUELS DRIVE HEALTH EMERGENCY

FOSSIL fuels are not only fuelling the climate crisis but also unleashing a public health emergency, with impacts spanning “from the womb to old age,” according to a landmark new report released Tuesday by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA).

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @Chennai

The study, ‘Cradle to Grave: The Health Toll of Fossil Fuels and the Imperative for a Just Transition,’ is the first comprehensive global overview of fossil fuel harms across their lifecycle and the human lifespan.

The report lands weeks before the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, where governments will face growing calls from the health community to treat fossil fuel dependence as a driver of disease, not just of global warming. India’s coal belt and industrial hubs provide testimonies of how fossil fuel dependence damages health. In Korba, Chhattisgarh, one of the country’s largest coal-producing districts, health workers report alarming rates of childhood asthma, bronchitis, tuberculosis, and congenital disorders linked to contaminated air and water. In Jharia, Jharkhand, underground coal seam fires that have burned for over a century continue to blanket communities in toxic smoke, displacing families and leaving residents with chronic respiratory and skin illnesses.

Along India’s eastern coast, refineries and power plants intersect with cyclone-prone zones, amplifying risks of toxic leaks during extreme weather. In Ennore, North Chennai, oil spills and coal ash have poisoned waterways, devastating fisheries and forcing traditional fishing families into precarious work. “Our waters are not just our livelihood, they are the essence of our identity. Pollution has erased our way of life,” said Ennore fisherman RL Srinivasan, quoted in the report. “These stories are emblematic of a wider crisis,” said Shweta Narayan, campaign lead at GCHA and one of the report’s authors. “We are talking about the entire industrial life cycle of fossil fuels — from the exploration stage, even before extraction, all the way to the disposal of coal ash ponds. At every stage, the harms are both to the environment and to health.”