Placing Health and Equity at the Center of the Climate Discussion
Over the past week as part of the new Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives ™ initiative, Biogen hosted a virtual Climate Week event with the Boston Globe that brought together leaders from multiple sectors to discuss the next generation of climate policy and protecting human health.
Climate change is considered the greatest existential threat of our time, and it is deeply connected to challenges of health and equity. What are the links between climate and health today? How can we make those issues more central in the climate discussion? How is the science changing? Why Biogen – and why now? These are among the many intriguing questions that Biogen helped elevate.
The conversation kicked off with a message from Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, who outlined commitments and actions the state has taken to address climate change, and was followed by a Q&A session with Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos and Linda Henry, Managing Director of the Boston Globe, on why it’s important that Biogen is taking action now and the significance of eliminating fossil fuel emissions. The conversation then turned to a panel of six leading climate and health experts who shared their insights into what more needs to be done to accelerate climate policy and protect human health.
As the first Fortune 500 company to commit to become fossil fuel free, starting with zero emissions by 2040, this virtual event attracted thousands of viewers from a wide array of stakeholders from elected officials to advocacy groups. If you weren’t among them, this is your chance to catch up on this timely conversation: www.bostonglobe.com/biogen.
Accelerating the Next Generation of Climate Policy and Protecting Human Health
Hosted by the Boston Globe
Massachusetts is on a path towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but more needs to be done, and fast. COVID has shown the injustice of the pandemic and we know the equity gaps of the climate crisis. With the support of leading institutions like MIT and Harvard, and forward-looking companies like Biogen, Massachusetts can affect real actions in the state and become a model for addressing climate change, with clear considerations to health for all populations.
Featured speakers:
- Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker
- Linda Henry, Managing Director, Boston Globe
- Michel Vounatsos, CEO, Biogen
- Eugenia Gibbons, Director, Health Care Without Harm
- Elizabeth Turnbull Henry, President, Environmental League of Massachusetts
- Mindy S. Luber, CEO & President, Ceres
- Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, Harvard Chan C-CHANGE
- Kate Walsh, President and CEO, Boston Medical Center
- Kathleen A. Theoharides, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Massachusetts
