From tob­ac­co to Big Tech — How com­mer­cial inte­rests are sha­ping pla­ne­ta­ry health

Doro­thea Baltruks^a, Car­men Jochem^b, Catrio­na Watt^b, Chio­ma Cyn­thia Ozu­luo­ha^b, Egle Sta­ke­li­unai­te^b, Miri­am Mesche­de^a

^{a) Cent­re for Pla­ne­ta­ry Health Poli­cy
b) Depart­ment of Pla­ne­ta­ry and Public Health, Uni­ver­si­ty of Bay­reuth}

The con­cept of com­mer­cial deter­mi­nants of health has gai­ned trac­tion in recent years to ana­ly­se how com­mer­cial inte­rests and actions influence popu­la­ti­on health. This think pie­ce builds on this body of work adding the pla­ne­ta­ry health dimen­si­on. Com­mer­cial stra­te­gies and acti­vi­ties with often lar­ge cos­ts to health, the envi­ron­ment and socie­ty are descri­bed and exem­pli­fied for key sec­tors: 1) Food, 2) Mobi­li­ty, 3) Tob­ac­co, 4) Alco­hol, 5) Fos­sil Fuels and 6) Big Tech and AI. The exami­ned stra­te­gies and acti­vi­ties as well as the aut­hors’ recom­men­da­ti­on for decis­i­on-makers focus on the Euro­pean (often spe­ci­fi­cal­ly Ger­man) con­text. The think pie­ce aims to spark a deba­te and fur­ther ana­ly­sis of the mecha­nisms behind the com­mer­cial dri­vers of pla­ne­ta­ry health. Inte­gra­ting and tack­ling the­se dri­vers in poli­ti­cal decis­i­ons is essen­ti­al to crea­ting a world that pro­mo­tes health and well-being for all within pla­ne­ta­ry boun­da­ries.

» Read more