Business and Management

Contraception and Climate Change: How Are They Related?

Population growth is the main driver for climate change. Unless we make drastic changes, we are heading for climate disaster.

We need to stop climate change – and this requires huge economic and strategic investment by governments. Yes, we want clean energy and sustainable agriculture – but these will take time. But – we can’t afford to wait. 

This is where contraception comes in. Contraception is an instantly available, highly cost-effective, and so far, overlooked, tool, which we can use to help save our planet. You can get redirected here to learn about birth-control and climate change.

climate change facts

By limiting the world population growth, via the use of contraception, we can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an impressive 40%.

It’s a sobering statistic that almost half – 44% – of pregnancies are not planned. These unintended pregnancies result in either abortion, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or live birth. 

Each of these outcomes has a huge physical, emotional, and financial cost – and a cost to the planet. If we could prevent more unplanned pregnancies, there would be so much to gain for everyone involved, and indeed for our environment.

Across the world, most of the predicted 3 billion pregnancies forecast by 2100, are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. However, no country can be complacent. The carbon footprint of individuals in high-income countries, such as the US and the UK, is far higher than the carbon footprint of those living in less wealthy nations.