The challenges for health care continue to grow and in the 21st century healthcare policymakers and providers will need to respond to the developing impact of global warming and the environmental impact of healthcare service delivery. This cannot be viewed apart from the current Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which is likely to be linked to the climate crisis.

The Lancet Countdown Report showed that health gains of the last 50 years are severely threatened by the effects of climate change and that the “greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century” is how to reform the healthcare sector in the sense of planetary sustainability.