BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – NOVEMBER 12: World leaders and delegates pose for a family photo on day two of … [+]
The 2024 UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, recently concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan, with delegates agreeing to a $300 billion deal to support developing countries as they navigate the climate crisis. The summit, which went into overtime on Sunday as tensions rose, represented an ambitious effort to develop a comprehensive financing package capable of tackling escalating climate challenges.
However, amid the crucial discussions on climate finance, another crucial topic also received attention at the conference: the impacts of climate change on human health.
In a year marked by climate change-induced disasters, including hurricanes that devastated the American Southeast and extreme heat that enveloped the Middle East, the climate crisis has taken a visible toll on health outcomes. This summer was the hottest day ever measured in terms of temperature daily global average temperatureincreased the risk of heat-related illness. Last month, flash floods led to flash floods in Spain at least 219 deaths. A new investigation The Lancet Planetary Health of nearly 16,000 young Americans found that 42.8% reported “an impact of climate change on self-reported mental health.”
Against the backdrop of this disturbing reality, COP29 sought to infuse the climate talks with a health perspective. In a statement titled ‘The health argument for climate action’ Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, reminded delegates of the importance of fighting for climate action to protect health.
“We care about rising sea levels and temperatures because they take up land and homes, make our planet less habitable, contribute to cardiovascular disease and fuel the spread of communicable diseases to new places,” says Dr. Ghebreyesus. said. “We care about extreme weather events because they cost lives and livelihoods and damage infrastructure; And we care about air pollution because it fills our lungs with poison. That’s why we say the climate crisis is a health crisis.”
COP29 was not the first UN climate change conference to explicitly draw attention to this issue. At COP28 in Dubai last year, an inaugural ‘Health Day’ brought together high-level healthcare stakeholders from around the world around the intersection of climate change and health. A ministerial climate-health conference, co-organized by WHO, the COP28 Presidency and the UAE Ministry of Health and Preventionculminated in the adoption of the UAE’s COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health, a “voluntary call to action” who recognized the health dimensions of the climate crisis and encouraged the pursuit of necessary action.
COP29 built on these results with numerous events putting public health on the agenda. The Wellcome Trust hosted the UN Climate Pavilion panel “The Power of Health in Unlocking Climate Action” to a packed audience. At the COP29 Health Pavilion, events included several climate-health themes, including “Gender and Equity in Climate and Health,” “Promoting Climate Literacy to Shape Sustainable Healthcare,” and “Aligning Food Systems, Nutrition and Climate Action.”
In addition, WHO has made several public efforts to push for the integration of health considerations into broader policy initiatives. The organization revealed a detailed report“Quality Criteria for Integrating Health into Nationally Determined Contributions,” which provided guidance for countries to align their climate action plans, known as NDCs, with health priorities. NDCs must be reassessed every five years, and with the next deadline for this approaching in 2025, the time is right to enshrine health-related climate targets.
The WHO too updated their virtual course ‘Climate Change Negotiations and Health’, available through the One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership. The educational program provided an introduction to the negotiating process at COP29, including the ways in which health topics fit into the contours of the summit’s broader work.
As delegations shift their focus to prepare for COP30 in Brazil next year, the foundation laid by COP29 to advance dialogue and solutions around the intersection of climate change and health will be paramount.