Tackling climate change will not only avert disaster but lead to healthier lifestyles in the short term, saving European health services vast sums of money in the process.

By introducing greener policies like cutting down on meat, insulating homes and promoting walking, the UK government can save the NHS, its prized national health service, £17 billion (€20bn) over the next twenty years, according to an eye-opening new report.

Researchers at the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society hope their findings will spur leaders on to “bring health to the forefront of the climate narrative” at COP26 next month.

“Climate change poses a catastrophic threat to humanity and the natural systems that underpin our lives,” says report co-chair Professor Joanna Haigh, from the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.

“It is obvious that tackling climate change will have a positive impact on human health in the long term, however our report provides evidence that many of the actions needed for the UK to meet the target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will also benefit our health in the near-term.”