Background

Planetary health features among the themes of the Royal College’s Strategic Plan 2023-2026. “This issue is of great importance to our members, who want the Royal College to be more mindful of how planetary health impacts people's health and to take planetary health into consideration in all its activities,” said Matthieu Touchette, MD, FRCPC, chair of the new National Advisory Committee on Planetary Health.

When the Royal College Council recommended reorganizing the Regional Advisory Committees into National Advisory Committees, it committed to incorporating strategic themes into our committee structure and to increasing our members’ influence by encouraging them to provide guidance and recommendations to solve key issues at a national level.

Actions for planetary health underway

The Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC), on behalf of the Royal College, provided advice and recommendations for two initiatives related to planetary health. In the fall of 2023, the Royal College and other national health care organizations sent an open letter to the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, calling on the government to recognize that the health emergency created by the climate crisis is becoming increasingly dire and that fossil fuels are the root cause of the health and climate crises. It also urges the government to protect people from extreme weather events and other effects of global warming. Then, in March 2024, the Royal College Council approved the signing of The Academic Health Institutions’ Declaration on Planetary Health and will further elaborate on the application of this commitment to planetary health and sustainable health care later this year.

Moreover, we released Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems on our new My Learning platform. This course on sustainable health care systems, co-developed by CASCADES and the Royal College, demonstrates the link between climate change, health and health care systems. The goal is to promote awareness of sustainable health care systems and provide guidance for integrating the principles of sustainability and climate action into everyday tasks. This activity is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College.

Founding and purpose of the Advisory Committee on Planetary Health  

The National Advisory Committee on Planetary Health was officially founded on April 1, 2024, and has met once so far, in May 2024. Dr. Touchette said of this first meeting, “We are still in the process of defining the different committees’ roles. Our framework is well established, and the Royal College has given us quite a bit of latitude. Our priority over the short term will be to complete our team members’ recruitment, ideally by fall. Recruitment is ongoing.”  

The committee plans to raise members’ awareness of planetary health, establish a partnership with the Indigenous Health Committee and work with other committees to promote planetary health in all actions and activities. Over the long term, the National Advisory Committee on Planetary Health wants to become a leading expert and serve as a benchmark for other organizations, such as the ministries of health and the provincial and territorial medical regulatory authorities. “We want our members to take advantage of the practical resources that we will make available to them to effect change at a local level,” said Dr. Touchette. The committee may yet seek to increase its visibility internationally.

A joint effort

As subcommittees of the Fellowship Affairs Committee, National Advisory Committees act as guides and consultants for the Royal College on its various initiatives. “We at the National Advisory Committee on Planetary Health already see the potential for a natural partnership with the Well-being and Human Resources Committee; additionally, our door remains open to working with the other new advisory committees and standing committees such as the HPPC, with whom we have already had initial talks,” stated Dr. Touchette.

Learn more about planetary health (My Learning)

Learn more about National Advisory Committees