COP28 Health Day on 3 December

On 3 December Health Day - senior health delegations from over 100 countries are expected to attend.

The Health Day will focus on showcasing evidence-based and clear compact pathways between climate change and human health. 

The COP28 Presidency will also gather climate and global health financiers, development banks, countries, philanthropies, and the private sector to respond to the country priorities and needs raised at COP28 and scale up finance interventions that will protect and promote human health.

The Declaration 'Climate and Health' was announced at the World Climate Action Summit, where world leaders gathered for the start of COP28.

Signed by 123 countries, the Declaration is announced ahead of the first-ever Health Day at a COP and marks a world first in acknowledging the need for governments to protect communities and prepare healthcare systems to cope with climate-related health impacts such as extreme heat, air pollution, and infectious diseases.

The Declaration was developed with the support of several countries including Brazil, Malawi, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Kenya, Fiji, India, Egypt, Sierra Leone, and Germany. This joint action comes as annual deaths from polluted air hit almost 9 million and 189 million people are exposed to extreme weather-related events each year.

The Declaration covers a range of action areas at the nexus of climate and health, including building more climate-resilient health systems, strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration to reduce emissions and maximize the health benefits of climate action, and increasing finance for climate and health solutions. 

Financing Climate and Health Initiatives 

The COP28 Presidency joined with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Green Climate Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the World Health Organization to unveil a set of ten principles to bolster financing for climate and health.  Endorsed by over 40 financing partners and civil society organizations, the COP28 Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions signal the growing collaboration across funders and the momentum to support climate and health solutions sustainably.

It also welcomed the finance announcements made by a wide range of stakeholders including governments, development banks, multilateral institutions, philanthropies, and NGOs to expand their investments in climate and health solutions. Collectively, these partners have committed to dedicate USD 1 billion to address the growing needs of the climate-health crisis.

To this end, the announcement of the Declaration at the World Climate Action Summit on December 2nd was just one of a number of announcements from the COP28 Presidency, which recognized the need to reduce the health impacts of climate change beyond the health sector and included new initiatives to drive rapid decarbonization to reduce emissions by at least 43% over the next seven years to keep 1.5C within reach.

COP28 UAE is taking place at Expo City Dubai from November 30-December 12, 2023. The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors.

As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake - a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals.

The UAE will lead a process for all parties to agree upon a clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and a “leave no one behind” approach to inclusive climate action.

Summary of the initiatives and financial commitments for climate and health:

The Asian Development Bank announced the launch of a new Climate and Health Initiative, dedicating an initial allocation of $7 million in seed funding over the coming year to jump-start. Additionally, ADB, is expected to catalyze at least $10 for each $1 of seed investments through co-financing and co-investments. The Initiative is one of ADB’s priorities under its 2023 - 2030 Climate Change Action Plan that will provide $120 million in climate finance. 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $57.95 million towards climate and health. This includes a $50 million investment over the coming four years to support climate-focused malaria efforts to better understand, detect and respond to changing vector habitat and endemicity ranges, and to develop new tools and strategies to respond to climate-related changes and disruptions in the malaria response.

In addition, the Foundation will contribute $7.95 million to a Grand Challenges Request for Proposal focused on transdisciplinary approaches to better adapt to, mitigate, or reverse the combined deleterious effects of climate change on health and agriculture. 

Wellcome Trust announced it will be spending £100mn in the coming year alone supporting research to understand and address the climate change health crisis, especially to support actions that benefit the most affected people and communities. This investment aims to put health research at the heart of climate decision-making, building momentum for healthy global climate mitigation and adaptation action

Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clean Air Fund , and C40 Cities announced an initial eleven cities to join the Breathe Cities Initiative – an ambitious new $30 million clean air initiative to accelerate progress, break down barriers to action, and ensure communities around the world have access to clean air.

The selected cities will receive support to enhance air quality data, community engagement, and policy development to reduce air pollution by 30% by 2030 and prevent nearly 40,000 premature deaths in selected cities. 

The Rockefeller Foundation announced at COP28 a $100 million commitment to advancing climate and health solutions, re-imagining the Foundation’s 110-year legacy in global health for the climate era. This announcement, the first by the Foundation on Climate and health, advances the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions which the Foundation co-convened together with the COP28 Presidency, World Health Organization, Green Climate Fund, and the Global Fund.

This announcement is part of the Foundation’s Climate Strategy, announced in September, to mobilize $1 billion over the coming five years to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it. The investment will focus on community-driven innovations in low- and middle-income countries that either mitigate or enable people to adapt to the effects of climate change on their health.

The UK will provide up to £18m to support partner countries in assessing vulnerability, identifying priority actions, and support planning, to mobilize the necessary financial and expert resources to increase investments to adapt and strengthen health systems to better cope with the impacts of climate change. This is the first such climate health program announced by a G7 country. Furthermore, 20% of the £80 million the UK pledged to the Global Financing Facility in October, which operates in about 40 countries, will be spent on climate and health.

Foundation S has pledged $42 million through 2030 to support community-led adaptation solutions to climate change, following the “Time to Adapt” Report issued by Foundation S’s think-tank, The Collective MindS Climate Council. This funding will go to local organizations and social innovators on the frontlines of the climate crisis, creating sustainable solutions leveraging public-private partnerships with local actors.

The Global Grand Challenges network of partners will announce a joint funding call of approximately $12 million to support innovators addressing the critical intersection of climate change, health, agriculture, and gender.

The Health Day events are live-streamed on the UNFCCC and COP28 official channels.