The World Medical Association (WMA) has urged its national members and all health organizations to divest from fossil fuels and transfer their funds to renewable energy sources, stating, “the effects of climate change and its extreme weather are having a significant and sometimes devastating impact on human health…. The world now needs to transfer to electricity suppliers who are renewable.”

WMA also told its 112 national medical association members and other health groups to advocate for their governments to shape economic policies around environmental impacts.

The announcement, which came last week during the association’s annual summit in Taiwan, is the latest signal that medical organizations are making the connection between climate change and public health.

“Fourteen of the 15 warmest years on record have occurred in the first 15 years of this century. The vulnerable among us, including children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease, and people living in poverty, are most at risk from these changes. Yet they are the people least able to adapt to the new conditions,” said Dr. Dong Chun Shin, chair of the WMA committee that crafted the divestment call.