Driving better health with sustainable energy — the Ashden conference 2019
We are living in a climate emergency. This is the overwhelming message from the Ashden conference, held on 2 July as part of London Climate Action Week. There is a noticeable shift in feeling from previous years, like the public has woken up to the dangers the planet is under.
But there is hope. Hope not just for a better environment, but for solving the biggest problems of our time in the process. Sustainable energy solutions drive better health and quality of life, especially for those worst affected by climate change (and who had the least to do with causing it).
Ashden exists to find and celebrate solutions that create a low carbon world, in the hope that their award winners can scale their ideas across the globe. Their conference looks at how these initiatives can also benefit better health, lower poverty, and increase biodiversity.
They are also one of our longest standing clients, and the most dedicated team you could find. You can see a full list of the Ashden Award winners on their website at www.ashden.org
Climate is a crossing cutting issue
Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis at BloombergNEF, the headline sponsors of the conference, open by telling us that customers don’t care where energy comes from. But they do care about their quality of life.
We’ve got to frame climate chance as a cross-cutting issues. For instance, 91% of the world breaths air that is bad. Carbon missions directly affect our life expectancies. These are the messages we need to getting out there.
Keynote: Neil Jennings, Partnerships Manager from the Grantham Institute
The issue of pollution needs to be put on the public’s radar.
Data from Ipsos MORI shows that public concern for the environment only rose beyond 10% in 2018, compared to immigration being noted as concern by 42% of all public in 2015.
But looking at climate issues also benefits lots of other areas. Improving household energy efficiency is a prime example.
Making homes more energy efficient increases the chance of dwellers being able to afford to heat the home. There is a reduced risk of physical and mental illness, which means a reduced cost to the NHS. Fewer days are missed at school due to illness, giving a better educational attainment. Fewer days at work are also missed due to illness, making an improvement in productivity. There is reduced NHS expenditure and benefit payments. More jobs are created.
All these areas are interlinked, but collaboration across departments is needed for the solutions to come to fruition.
Co-Benefits Toolkit
Simon Brammer, Head of Cities, Ashden
Meteorologists have had to add a new colour to the charts, because we haven’t recorded temperatures like these before.
People are dying from the unprecedented heat. In California, mussels died in their shells because the sea temperatures rose enough to cook them. More than 2 months of rain fell in one day, evacuating towns in the UK. This is weather that is much more severe than we have ever seen, driven by our change in climate. The implications on our own physical and mental health are huge.
There is also sky rocketing levels of inequality across the world. We keep being told that we are living in fractured societies. Tackling climate change gives us a chance to come back together. But we have to be radical, fast, and take people with us.
Re-framing climate change as a health issue can help people see the benefits of the changes they need to make. And it doesn’t just mean giving things up. We need to show people how it will make their every day brighter, too. Better jobs, thriving local communities, green spaces, clean air, better travel. We can solve these and climate issues at same time.
Clean cooking and women’s health
Keynote: Her Excellency Samira Bawumia, Second Lady of the Republic of Ghana
71,200 premature deaths a year in sub-saharan Africa are due to air pollution. That’s compared to 27,500 from poor nutrition.
67% of household energy is used for cooking. Households are forced to rely on unclean energy solutions — charcoal, firewood etc. Not surprisingly, air pollution remains a major issue affecting health in Africa.
Over 7 million deaths could be avoided annually — such as lung disease, and cardiovascular issues. Animal deaths from ambience increased by 36% from 1990 to 2016.
These are all issues that that directly affect women the most. Women spend 3–4 hours a day collecting firewood. They are subject to bites and attacks from wild animals. They suffer time poverty; a loss of productive time for things like education. Their prospects and health are effected.
There has been a significant shift to cleaner energy systems for cooking in the developing world in the last 10 years. Kenya, Senegal and Ghana all have examples of good initiatives.
However, there is a warning here to check if solutions can be scaled across different continents and cultures. For example, Indian cooking methods are different from African cooking methods — different sized bowls and heating methods are used. We have to get the people who need it involved in design.
Affordability is the main barrier to the adoption of cleaner fuel in the kitchen. Households know they present an overall economic benefit, but the initial cost continues to be high. The cost for a poor household is several weeks of income in Ghana, initially. There are innovative ways we can tackle it, e.g. pay as you use.
We can spend money on health solutions, but we have got to spend it on the right issues. The mindset needs to shift from not just ensuring humans are born alive, but thriving. Pregnant women are sent back into homes where the air is polluted from cooking. Policy makers have to think about solutions that benefit the whole situation.
It’s a human centred issue, and it’s a global issue. More effort is needed to involve women in the design. And it’s got to affordable. Together we can drive the effort to push for clean cooking solutions across the world. The cost of inaction is way too high.
Our addiction to fossil fuels
Keynote: Ellen Dorsey, Wallace Global Fund
Our addiction to fossil fuels and over consumption is causing a tsunami of human rights epidemics, and the most least to blame will be at the brunt of it. And we only have less than a decade to avoid the massive global consequences.
It is possible to get off fossil fuels, and we have a duty to do it as quickly as possible. All institutions must get off of them now. There is a new moral responsibility to all who fully understand the magnitude of the emergency, and now have an obligation to act. We have to accept the existential burden.
The combustion of fossil fuels kills. The burning of them produces green house gases. The industry that produces them has engaged us in mass deception, and now are branding themselves as greener countries.
Every investor needs to be putting at least 5% into greener solutions.
Are we heading the demands of the youth? Systemic change has never happened incrementally. It requires mass action. We’re all climate activists now.
Panel discussions
Panel: What success looks like — why invest in the health co-benefits of sustainable energy?
- Young people are being influenced to consume more stuff. How do we get beyond this consumerists dynamic to the things we really enjoy in life?
- 480 people live in 10% of top deprived households in Birmingham. The Active Wellbeing Society provided free bikes. Co-benefits can also help hit strategic agendas. The bikes were fitted with air quality monitors attached to them, which made them more attractive to other funders.
- The are country wide win-wins. Transport, diet, installation — there are so many health benefits to come from greening these three areas.
- The NHS pushes 5% of all road traffic, for example. There are benefits to making them greener, too.
- As the world heats up, we’re trying to cool ourselves down with tech that use F-gases, sometimes considered worse than C02. We need the businesses to transition to greener solutions such as ice banks.
- The benefits seem clear. So what are the barriers? Funders (local government) don’t yet have the information about the differences these changes could make.
- They also don’t obviously sit with any government department. There isn’t a joined up approach between them.
- What more can we do? Raise profile of efficient clean cooling. Present ideas to politicians with the end impact in mind, e.g. the health of people at a high level. Showcase examples of good practise, always.
- Collaborate. The solutions are already here. Stop isolating communities from the development. Reframe it as an optimistic vision, where our world health levels have improved to never before.
Panel: How to scale — overcoming barriers and building evidence of health co-benefits
- We still make the mistake as a sector of bringing a solution from one place and scaling it up in another country. Let’s start with the user. Watch them use it. Keep a dashboard of data followed up by the qualitative stories of what contextual barriers they had. Instead of jumping to behaviour change (we need to educate the women), we’re designing for exactly what they need, says Nithya Ramanthan of Nexleaf Analytics.
- Data alone is not that useful — what you do with it that counts says Kat Harrison of 60 Decibels.
- All councils are under severe financial pressure. Their priority is economic growth. We have to find ways to tap into their agenda.
- Couple that data with the right partnerships. Look at who else is working in this area — beyond health, e.g. a scheme in the Midlands where fire services checking alarms refer inhabitants whose homes are cold.
- We are where we are with evidence — it’s not going to get any better. Culture shift in health and social care is going to need to happen fast.
- In health, we only think about the body — patching people up and sending them home again. But what if home is cold, with bad air pollution?
Panel: How to finance — sharing budgets across sectors to increase the flow of capital
- All renewables are a balance of harm arguments. We have a birth right for clean air, clean water and food. Anyone who advocates private funding moves away from that.
- There are so many benefits of sustainable energy solutions and health. We need payment solutions to drive funding into the right areas, as well as cultural mindset shift. But changing culture happens from the action you take. The same can be done in health. There’s massive movements happening, but it has taken people like David Attenborough to drive the plastic.
- NHS trusts create 3.3 million tonnes of carbon, and spend £567m a year on energy. If they could put all that spend into renewables, imagine the impact. Some hospitals are still running on coal boilers. The impact on the local community is huge. There’s a lot to be done.
- The NHS has swathes of data. But we don’t overlay it with health outcomes, like what would the cost of public health be if this changed — such as the cost of prevention.
- How do we get energy and health sectors to come together? Look for what unites us.
The 2019 Ashden Award Winners
International Award for Sustainable Cities and Buildings: EQuota Energy
Cloud based software uses big data analytics to provide energy optimisation solutions for large buildings across China. By looking at a range of sources such as existing smart meters and building management systems, EQuota enable buildings to become more energy efficient.
Over $7million has already be saved per year on energy bills, and over 110,000 tonnes C02 has been saved from the atmosphere.
The more comfortable the building, a reduction of sick leave. Average human spends 18 hours in building. Humidity and air quality makes a real difference to comfort in peoples lives, and therefore productivity.
Award for Sustainable Energy and Health: Kaurna Trust
India is of two worlds. In big cities, all healthcare is possible. And in towns and villages, 50% of worlds TB patients can be found. The infant mortality rate is 5 times lower than state average.
Karuna Trust wanted to solve the unsolved issue in remote areas — never before has healthcare reached them. Energy is a big problem; power connection can be gone for 30 days. Now 17 health centres across India are solar powered, as well as many more mobile centres.
UK Award for Sustainable Buildings: Energiesprong
Energiesprong provide clean efficient solutions for new homes. The tenants and landlords pay from what they have saved in energy bills. Retrofits take 15 days or less.
We need to be retrofitting 1 house per minute to achieve our energy goals. This solution makes old homes better than new homes.
Award for Sustainable Mobility: SMV Green
SMV Green replacing auto rickshaws with green electric rickshaws. Cycling 8+ hours a day causes tired and joint issues, and petrol powered rickshaws are a contributing factor to air quality in India. India is home to 22 of the most populated cities of the world. Air pollution has health consequences and mental stress to the population.
The rickshaw owners earn better, and don’t have to cycle all day, every day. SMV Green even run a scheme to swap batteries over while they are charging.
Award for Clean Air in Towns and Cities: London Borough of Waltham Forest
The ‘Enjoy Waltham Forest’ scheme started as a traffic control programme, but has created an environment where people feel safe and secure cycling and walking around the streets. They have now closed 49 residential streets to through traffic, and created 26km of segregated cycle track.
Residents have noted that they can hear the birds sing. Air quality has improved. There is now an improved life expectancy for children born since starting the work.
Award for Cooling by Nature: Alcaldia de Medellin
After enduring years of high crime and violence, Medellín faces a new threat — rising urban temperatures, driven by climate change. The Green Corridors project plants vegetation, creating a better built environment.
Nature has been brought back to the valley, improving the health for the people of Medellín.
Award for Clean Cooking: Sistema.bio
In Mexico, Sistema.bio has created an innovative, affordable biogas system that turns animal waste into the cleanest of cooking fuels and produces a planet-friendly super fertiliser.
More than 100,000 tons of CO2 has been mitigated.
Award for Powering Business: Resham Surta
Resham Surta provides solar powered machine to weave silk thread. Before receiving these machines, women would have to sit outside for the daylight, weaving the thread round a stick on their thigh, causing them pain. As it had to be done on their thighs, they were forced to expose body parts which in their culture brought shame on them, so affected their mental health.
Now, these machines provide them better peace of mind, more income, and prospects for their whole family.
Conclusions: Harriet Lamb, CEO
We have got the solutions out there in spades. But it is clear that renewable energy must not replicate the problems of power, energy and money that fossil fuels do. A decentralised approach is needed so that we tackle some of the equalities in our world today. Our winners show how to build new economic solutions from the ground up.
If you want to help Ashden and their winners to deliver the clean energy future that we all need, then please consider supporting the charity: https://www.ashden.org/support-us/supporting-ashden
