Energy and health

Abstract

As we approach winter in the northern hemisphere, our attention turns to heating our homes. With the current global problems affecting energy supply and increases in costs of living due to a range of issues, it appears clear that for the foreseeable future, there are real challenges with assuring an affordable and sustainable energy supply. We know that this is an issue that currently has the world’s attention. However, energy affects many aspects of a population’s health. For example, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (World Health Organisation 2022) identify that energy is critical for progressing many of the other SDGs including the provision of quality education (SDG4), eradication of poverty (SDG1) and job security and economic growth (SDG 8). Therefore, SDG 7 arguably is one of the most critical goals of the 17. Its aim is to ‘ensure access to affordable, reliable sustainable and modern energy for all’ (World Health Organisation 2022, p) and it has 3 specific targets: