• Maria van Hove, Peter Davey, and Anya Gopfert.
• Department of Health and Community Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
• Lancet. 2022 Nov 1; 400 Suppl 1: S83S83.

BackgroundThe climate and ecological emergency is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. However, it is not universally seen as a priority for public health. It is not clear to what extent public health professionals are involved in working on the climate and ecological emergency. This research aimed to establish what senior public health professionals working in English local authorities perceive their role is, what activities they are involved in, whether climate and environmental issues are a core component of public health, and to identify barriers to action.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were done with a purposive sample of 15 local authority public health consultants and directors of public health in England using a predefined and piloted topic guide over a Zoom session. Participants were recruited via national public health bodies, social media, or snowballing. Thematic content analysis was used to identify codes and key themes. Ethical exemption was obtained from the University of Manchester.FindingsSome public health professionals have started work on climate change and others were unclear about the role of public health. Key activities included establishing governance structures, bringing together stakeholders, making the case for health co-benefits of climate action, and advocating for reducing inequalities while reducing carbon emissions. Barriers to action included shortage of financial resources, communication tools and capacity, little sharing of best practice, scarcity of local expertise, and conflict between the need for action on climate change and other urgent public health issues.InterpretationPublic health professionals increasingly work on climate change, but practice would be strengthened by improved intelligence, more resources, and support networks. This new qualitative data can inform the development of the role of public health professionals in climate change and the ecological emergency. However, a limitation on the study was that only able to engage public health consultants who considered the climate and ecological crisis as important for public health, so it remains unclear in how far our findings represent the views of the larger public health community.FundingNone.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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