This peer-reviewed report quantifies the projected health effects associated with extreme heat, air quality, changing seasons, flooding and infectious diseases. Where possible, the analyses consider the extent to which health effects fall disproportionately on Native and Black children, children from low-income families, those without health insurance and/or those with limited English proficiency.
“Understanding the health risks to children is fundamental to developing effective and equitable strategies that protect our current and future generations,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Today’s report will contribute to further efforts by the Biden administration to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice.”
The report identifies a range of impacts on the health and wellbeing of US children.
For example, at 2°C and 4°C of global warming:
- Climate change is expected to increase the incidence of asthma in children. In particular, climate-driven changes in air quality are estimated to increase annual cases of asthma by 4% and 11% respectively.
- Increased pollen from oak, birch and grass is expected to raise asthma-related emergency room visits by children by 17% to 30% each year.
- Additional cases of Lyme disease in children are expected to increase by 79% to 241%, or from 2,600 to 23,400 new additional cases per year.
Heat experienced during the school year affects children’s concentration and learning. Climate-driven temperature increases are expected to lead to reductions of 4% to 7% in annual school performance per child. These learning losses can affect future earnings, with potential losses among university-graduate students reaching billions of dollars a year (and thousands of dollars per individual).
If no further adaptation measures are taken, it is estimated that between 1 million and more than 2 million children will experience temporary displacement or complete loss of their home respectively, as a result of coastal flooding reaching 50-100 cm above global mean sea level.
Today’s report is an important new resource in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice. Agencies across the federal government are working to protect all children from environmental health risks, with the EPA particularly focused on the health impacts on children of climate change and other environmental factors.
“The new EPA report offers a clear and compelling overview of how climate change affects the health of our children. Its findings underline the need to consider children’s wellbeing in every climate policy and the moral urgency of taking effective action to stop climate pollution on behalf of younger and future generations,” said Elizabeth Bechard, senior policy analyst at Moms Clean Air Force.
“We know that children are particularly vulnerable to almost all the health impacts of climate change, from extreme heat and worsening air quality to coastal flooding and the increasing prevalence of insect-borne diseases. The new report is painful to read. But necessary.
It offers an important road map for policymakers, parents, teachers, healthcare workers and childcare providers, highlighting both the challenges we face and the potential solutions. For everyone who cares about children’s wellbeing, the new EPA report is a call to action, an appeal we must answer for the sake of our children.”
“Children are experiencing the impacts of climate change, with negative outcomes affecting their physical and mental health,” said Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, executive director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network. “It is very important that the EPA and the Biden-Harris administration have drawn up this report and are taking a stand for children and their wellbeing.
The available evidence and lived experience support the fact that children’s health is further threatened by the increase in changing seasons, extreme heat, air quality, flooding and infectious diseases, all of which are influenced by climate change.
We also know that Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, Asian and Pacific Islander children and those from low-income families experience cumulative impacts from environmental and climate injustice. We applaud the EPA for this important leadership and will continue to identify ways to work together to advance the health of all children against the growing and urgent threat of climate change.”
“As a physician, I understand that the environment is a determining factor in our health,” said Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-25). “This report makes clear the profound impact of climate change on the health, wellbeing and development of our children and underlines the need to address the climate crisis through a public health perspective. I appreciate the Biden administration’s commitment to protecting the health of our children and look forward to working together on solutions that promote environmental justice for all.”
Source: EPA website
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