Doctors call on the Liberal Party to resist caving in to pressure to abandon net zero, as doing so will put Australian lives at risk.
The call comes ahead of high-stakes meetings this week to debate the party's position on net zero emissions.
Doctors for the Environment Australia's executive Director Dr Kate Wylie says, "It would be reckless for our political leaders to ignore the scientific and medical evidence that clearly states climate change is a public health emergency. The World Health Organisation has declared it the greatest threat to global health in the 21st Century.
"Dropping net zero aimed at addressing rising emissions, which are the cause of climate change, threatens the foundations of good health, with serious consequences for our families and communities.
"As doctors we are aghast at attempts to reduce measures towards a safe climate.
"We are right now witnessing the effects of climate change on the health of Australians — increased emergency department presentations and hospitalisations due to heat, the mental health impacts of extreme events like floods and fire, and the emergence of infectious diseases like Japanese encephalitis virus in previously unaffected areas of Australia.
"Healthcare services are also vulnerable to a range of risks, including an increase in patient demand and threats to infrastructure and workforce.
"It is incumbent on the Australian government to fully honour its commitment to the Paris Agreement to adopt increasingly ambitious targets every five years in an effort to keep global mean temperature rise to 2⁰C. Current warming in Australia is already 1.5°C.
"The health impacts of climate change are an escalating threat that our leaders must be prepared to face and address.
"We urge all parliamentarians to put health before ideology."
