WHO Director General's remarks at the COP29 High level Side Event on Health and Climate Change 13 November 2024

Honourable Minister Dr Teymur Musayev,

Honourable Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the UN 73rd General Assembly and Board Member of NGIC,

Honourable Muhammad Yunus,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

I thank NGIC and UNDP for co-hosting this event with WHO.

Many of you have heard me say that the climate crisis is a health crisis.

And I will keep saying it until the message gets through.

We are all here this week not simply because our climate is changing, but because of the impact that our changing climate has on human health.

Rising temperatures contribute to cardiovascular disease and fuel the spread of communicable disease;

Air pollution contributes to 7 million premature death a year;

Climate change also drives food insecurity and malnutrition, which harm the development of children in the womb and in their early years;

I could go on.

Human health is the most compelling argument for climate action.

And climate action delivers massive benefits for health, and the social and economic benefits that flow from that.

For example, eliminating the use of fossil fuels will improve air quality and reduce illness and death due to air pollution, which currently leads to 7 million deaths per year.

WHO's COP29 special report on climate change and health calls for urgent action to protect the health of people, place and planet.

One critical action countries can take is to develop Nationally Determined Contributions with a strong health focus, or as we call them, "healthy NDCs."

"Healthy NDCs" are climate commitments for protecting both people and planet - for present and future generations.

NDCs are critical for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, with action across sectors including energy, urban planning, transport, agriculture and food systems.

WHO's guidance to support countries in the development of NDCs for these relevant sectors places health as the ultimate goal and guiding principle of these climate actions.

WHO is also a partner with the UN Development Programme in the Climate Promise initiative, to promote the integration of health in NDC development and updates.

Another key initiative to drive action at the country level is the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health, known as ATACH.

This platform brings together 90 countries and over 70 partners to

work with the health community and other sectors to support health-promoting climate interventions.

ATACH and its members also support countries to access funding for climate change and health.

Let me leave you with three requests:

First, WHO asks all countries to develop and adopt 'Healthy NDCs', that make health the object of climate action.

Second, WHO asks all countries to engage with ATACH to build climate-resilient and climate-friendly health systems.

And third, WHO asks all countries to significantly increase the availability and accessibility of finance for climate and health.

Thank you all for your commitment to putting giving health its rightful place at the centre of climate change negotiations.

I thank you.

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