Leveraging Legal Determinants of Health (LDOH) for Climate Justice and Collective Wellbeing

Soc Work Public Health. 2026 Jan 16:1-11. doi: 10.1080/19371918.2026.2614514. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Despite ongoing debates about what is causing our changing climate, we know this change is real. Extreme weather events are occurring at a larger never-before-seen scale and with more frequency. The impact of extreme weather events has resulted in devastating health consequences: physical illnesses, mental health problems, displacement and in the most dire of situations the loss of human life. Further, some communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and experience heightened vulnerability. This article presents the legal determinants of health (LDOH) framework as an optimal strategy to advance climate justice and collective wellbeing. It does so through an equity lens. The LDOH framework supports the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, comprised of 17 Sustainable Development Goals that advance human rights and prosperity for all, and significantly influences global-to-local health and equity. Viewing health as a human right requires expanding beyond social determinants of health as a site for intervention and toward structural intervention, specifically LDOH. LDOH refer to macrolevel factors, including laws, policies, institutional practices and governance processes that structure the social determinants of health. The power of leveraging LDOH for climate justice and collective wellbeing is addressed through a discussion of multiple case examples. In conclusion, social workers are identified as critically important in climate justice advocacy for public health and collective wellbeing.

PMID:41545014 | DOI:10.1080/19371918.2026.2614514