According to the Daily Mail campaigners have claimed that improving house insulation and encouraging cycling and walking would save the NHS £3.7billion a year. They say that reducing energy demand in transport, buildings and industry - by insulating homes and getting people out of their cars - would reduce early deaths through pollution and pneumonia.
A report by the Green Alliance group accused ministers of a 'short sighted approach to energy' which is damaging people's health.
The top priority in transport should be to reduce the need to own and drive vehicles, campaigners said.
Transport is the largest sector for greenhouse gas pollution in the UK, with current policies set to deliver just six million tonnes of the 70 million tonnes a year reduction needed by 2032.
Emissions are not coming down, in part due to the increase in weight of cars with more SUVs on the road, but policies to encourage walking, cycling and more use of public transport could cut pollution and improve health.
According to the report switching just 1.7 per cent of car journeys to walking and cycling could deliver £2.5 billion in health benefits, by reducing problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease and added that cleaner travel will also help prevent the estimated 65,000 early deaths a year from air pollution.
The report continued that making homes more energy efficient and warmer could save the NHS £1.2billion a year, currently spent on treating problems attributed to cold living conditions such as pneumonia and heart attacks.
A £1billion a year investment up to 2035 in energy efficiency would also lower household bills by an average of £270, and prevent 10,000 early deaths a year, it added.
The study, based on research by the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions - which involves academics from 15 UK universities - said the Government should implement measures to reduce demand.
Speaking to the Daily Mail NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'The health service is working with the world's leading experts to set a practical, evidence-based and ambitious date for the NHS to reach net-zero, as well as looking at how the NHS can influence other sectors of society such as the energy industry.'
