Climate Conference – Charities pledge $300 million to address the health dimension of the climate crisis

The Special Report on Health and Climate Change – issued by the World Health Organization and the Brazilian government – warns that one in 12 hospitals could face closure due to climate change. It calls for urgent action to protect health systems in a rapidly warming world.

This follows the launch yesterday, Thursday, of the Belém Health Action Plan, a flagship initiative of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-30) that puts health at the heart of climate policies.

What does the World Health Organization say?

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The climate crisis is a health crisis, not in the distant future, but here and now.”.

He added: “This special report provides evidence on the impact of climate change on people and health systems, and real-world examples of what countries can do – and are already doing – to protect health and strengthen health systems.”.

The importance of the report

Global temperature rise has already exceeded the 1.5 degree Celsius mark. The report finds that between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people live in areas highly vulnerable to climate impacts, while hospitals face a 41% higher risk of being damaged by extreme weather conditions than in 1990.

Without rapid decarbonisation, the number of health facilities at risk could double by mid-century. The health sector itself contributes about 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the need for a rapid transition to resilient, low-carbon health systems.

Key gaps in health adaptation

The report highlights glaring gaps in health adaptation planning, which are as follows:

⬅️ Only 54% of national health adaptation plans assess the risks threatening health facilities.

⬅️ Less than 30% of them take into account income differences.

⬅️ Only 20% of them take gender into account.

⬅️ Less than 1% of them include people with disabilities.

Progress has been made, with the number of countries with multi-hazard early warning systems doubling between 2015 and 2023, but coverage remains uneven, particularly in least developed countries and small island states.

What is being accomplished

Adding further momentum to these efforts, a coalition of more than 35 charities today pledged $300 million to accelerate solutions to challenges at the intersection of climate and health.

The coalition of climate and health funders — which includes Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Gates Foundation, the IKEA Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Wellcome Fund — will support innovations, policy and research on extreme heat, air pollution, and climate-sensitive diseases, as well as health systems strengthening and data integration.

In its first funding effort, this coalition supports the Belem Health Action Plan and aims to deliver interventions that save lives now.

With the past decade recording the warmest temperatures on record, and temperatures remaining near historic highs, experts warn that inaction risks dire consequences for human health.

Adaptation is urgent

UN News spoke with Ethel Maciel, Special Envoy for Health for COP30 and one of the co-authors of the Belem Health Action Plan, who stressed that climate change is no longer a distant threat, but is now reshaping health systems.

and asked: “How do we prepare our health units, hospitals and facilities for these extreme events that will occur with increasing frequency? And how can we provide training and capacity building for health workers so that they can confront these extreme events that will result from the climate changes we are already seeing?”

She went on to say: “An example here in Brazil is, last year’s floods in Rio Grande do Sul, which caused the largest dengue epidemic in history, were driven by these climate changes. So, we don’t have to think about the future; it’s happening now. So, thinking about how to adapt our system is urgent.”.

Three basic pillars of the plan

The Special Envoy for Health for the UN Climate Change Conference, identified three key pillars of the plan:

⬅️ Monitoring to integrate climate and health data, enabling forecasting of heat-related health care demand, and improving reporting of climate-related conditions.

⬅️ Flexible systems and training enable health workers to identify and treat effects such as dehydration or cardiac stress.

⬅️ Research and innovation to develop heat-resistant medicines and vaccines, reduce pollution in health supply chains, and expand the use of renewable energy.

Maciel warned that implementation is crucial in the Amazon region, where deforestation may unleash unknown pathogens.

She said: “We have pathogens that we don’t fully understand yet.”Calling on leaders to ensure that the plan does not become… “Just another paper and another beautiful advertisement, because this is not being implemented in practice.”.

UN News is in Belém, Brazil, reporting and live coverage of the Climate Change Conference (COP-30).