El impacto de los combustibles fosiles en la salud y la urgencia por una transicion justa

The document details how fossil fuels cause systemic health damage across their entire value chain, affecting individuals from fetal development through old age. It highlights the disproportionate burden on marginalized communities in 'sacrifice zones' and calls for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, the cessation of new exploration, and the internalisation of health costs through the 'polluter pays' principle to facilitate a just energy transition.

• Fossil fuel pollution causes health damage across all life stages, including prenatal risks such as low birth weight, premature birth, and congenital anomalies, as well as lifelong issues like asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological disorders.
• Every stage of the fossil fuel life cycle releases harmful pollutants: extraction releases benzene and heavy metals; refining emits carcinogenic volatile organic compounds; transport risks chemical spills; combustion produces PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides; and post-combustion waste continues to expose communities to toxins.
• Health impacts are distributed unequally, with marginalized groups, indigenous peoples, and low-income populations often living in 'sacrifice zones' near polluting infrastructure with limited access to healthcare.
• Global fossil fuel subsidies reached an estimated 7 trillion USD in 2022, including 5.7 trillion USD in implicit subsidies representing unaccounted social costs like air pollution and climate damage.
• The document recommends several policy actions: ending new fossil fuel exploration, redirecting subsidies toward health and renewables, applying the 'polluter pays' principle to internalize health costs, and excluding fossil fuel entities from international climate forums like COPs.
• A rapid transition to clean energy could save over 2 million lives annually by improving air quality and is economically viable as renewable energy and battery storage costs have fallen.

APA

Global Climate and Health Alliance (n.d.). El impacto de los combustibles fosiles en la salud y la urgencia por una transicion justa. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/C2G-SPANISH_EXE-SUMMARY-2.pdf

Chicago

Global Climate and Health Alliance. El impacto de los combustibles fosiles en la salud y la urgencia por una transicion justa. n.d. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/C2G-SPANISH_EXE-SUMMARY-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Climate and Health Alliance |title=El impacto de los combustibles fosiles en la salud y la urgencia por una transicion justa |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/C2G-SPANISH_EXE-SUMMARY-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalclimateandhealthalliancendimpacto, author = {{Global Climate and Health Alliance}}, title = {{El impacto de los combustibles fosiles en la salud y la urgencia por una transicion justa}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/C2G-SPANISH_EXE-SUMMARY-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }