Many of the same actions that can reduce the carbon emissions that are driving climate change can also bring improve health and wellbeing. We encourage you to act on health at the UNSG 2019 Climate Action Summit by committing to one of the goals of the Social and Political Drivers coalition.

WHO Climate Action Summit health commitment info hub

The Commitment to invest in climate action, public health and sustainable development aims to protect the lives of the most vulnerable populations, to deliver and scale up the Paris commitments on adaptation financing, and to address the widely recognized gap in financing health adaptation by mainstreaming climate change into core health sector investments. The commitment would also raise ambition by improving the access of citizens, subnational and national governments to the data and information needed to assess progress on addressing air pollution and carbon emissions.

Targeted areas of investment could include:

• Climate-informed health surveillance and response systems for heatwaves, such as improving and developing heat warning systems and heat health action plans;
• Climate-smart healthcare facilities, including sustainable and climate-resilient cooling options;
• Development and implementation of legislative heat standards for worker safety or other high-risk populations;
• Heat impact surveillance and monitoring systems;
• Monitoring and evaluating heat intervention effectiveness;
• Preparation and response to health emergencies associated with climate change;
• Development of integrated air quality and climate change mitigation policies in lower and middle income countries, focusing on cool and green city interventions;

How to make a commitment

For commitments to be accepted, they must be submitted to the Climate Action Summit Team of the Secretary-General by a senior official of the committing government or institution. If you have questions on the requirements and implementation of commitments please contact carbonfootprint@who.int.

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