Understanding the ‘double damage’ of climate and health inequalities

We know that people who already experience disadvantage, such as being disabled or living in poverty, are also among the most vulnerable in our society when it comes to the health impacts of climate change. 

This ‘double damage’ could widen Scotland’s unfair and avoidable health inequalities even further. What affects our health is closely linked to how well communities can respond to climate events.

What does this look like for communities? 

We see climate impacts through more frequent and severe weather conditions and increasingly heavy downpours with subsequent flooding, extreme cold snaps, as well as sweltering heatwaves, as we’ve seen this summer.

These climate impacts see communities face knock on effects from health-impacting levels of both extreme heat and cold, with issues like serious heatstroke becoming more common, damp conditions leading to respiratory disease, and both heat and cold making it more likely people’s existing conditions will get worse.

The fact that these impacts aren’t felt equally mean that disabled people and older people particularly feel the effects, and that people who live in poorer areas have less greenspace and a higher chance of being exposed to air pollution – all while having the smallest carbon impact themselves.

What we can do about it - and why community action matters

We believe that community-led responses are a crucial part of how we tackle this challenge. People bring huge amounts of knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm about their communities, rooted in lived and living experience. Communities coming together to have conversations and identifying out what’s important to them leads to real action targeted where it matters most.

Unbound will be supporting this local activity that brings people together to harness the power of collective action that we know can result in real change happening - led by communities themselves.