About this Event
This talk is being delivered in-person and online. Please join us for a talk entitled "Structures of Obstruction to Planetary Health Equity" by world-renowned expert Professor Sharon Friel whose work focuses on governance and the planetary, social and commercial determinants of health inequities.
About the talk
This talk explores why little effective action is taking place to ensure planetary health equity (PHE) - the equitable enjoyment of good health in a stable Earth system. Addressing PHE demands action on the global consumptogenic system – the system of institutions, policies, commercial activities and norms that incentivises the excessive extraction, production and hyper-consumption of fossil fuel-reliant goods and services. This system is not only harmful to the environment and human health, but also inequitably valued and distributed, leading to a significant concentration of wealth and power among the conservative elites and corporations who benefit from the consumptogenic system.
Much is known about the types of progressive policies that are needed to transform the consumptogenic system, including in energy, tax, housing, food, transport and other sectors. However, powerful interests work hard to prevent the necessary design, development and implementation of policy that would change the status quo that serves them well. Nothing will change unless the structures of obstruction to progressive policies in climate and inequity are addressed. While the work to understand climate action obstruction is growing, there is little attention to wealth inequities. Drawing on the work of the Climate Social Science Research Network to guide the approach, the talk will discuss some exploratory work on wealth inequities, identifying the policies that are needed to reduce wealth inequities, types of actors involved in those policy areas, and highlight some of the factors that obstruct or prevent the action from happening. Identifying the strategies and practices of obstructive forces will help inform ways to assemble counterstrategies to advance progressive policy and effective civil society.
Date: 2 March 2026
Time: 3-4:30 PM
Location: UoB Campus and Online
About the speaker
Professor Friel is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity in the School of Regulation and Global Governance. She is Director of the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse at the Australian National University. Between 2005 and 2008 she was the Head of the Scientific Secretariat (University College London) for the World Health Organisation’s landmark global Commission on Social Determinants of Health. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
This presentation forms part of the Centre for 21st Century Public Health’s seminar series where we showcase research across the Centre and from our (potential) collaborators at other universities in the UK and globally.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
University of Bath, UoB, Claverton Down, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
