"Public health should be key to transitioning away from fossil fuels" (The Lancet)

“Transitioning away from fossil fuels is not only essential for climate mitigation, but is also among the most consequential public health opportunities of the 21^st century, and would usher in a new beginning for human health and wellbeing”, according to a correspondence piece published in The Lancet on 19 August 2026.

The piece, "Health should be key to transitioning away from fossil fuels," responds to the final report of the first Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, in April 2026 and co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands. The conference brought together representatives from 57 nations to advance what organisers described as a “just, orderly, and equitable transition”.

According to the authors, the Santa Marta report makes “a powerful…