Remember how last year was the first time in UNFCCC history where health was recognized as a scientific priority by a COP Presidency? In a way, the silver lining of an otherwise devastating pandemic has been an increased awareness of the fragility of our health systems in the face of global crises – and no crisis is more daunting or puts human health at a greater risk than the climate emergency.
In a side event that took place yesterday, the climate community got an update on the COP26 Health Programme. The Health Programme is an innovative initiative that addresses both sides of the coin in the climate and health nexus: the significant climate vulnerability of global healthcare delivery and the fact that the health sector represents almost 5% of net global GHG emissions. Convened last year by the UK government, the World Health Organization (WHO), Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) and the UNFCCC Climate Champions, the Programme calls on countries to commit to developing climate resilient, sustainable and low emissions health systems. The decarbonisation initiative, in particular, calls for action plans to consider human exposure to air pollution which, according to WHO estimates, is responsible for over 7 million premature deaths each year. Fifty-nine countries have so far joined the Programme, out of which nineteen have set a target date by which their health systems should reach net-zero emissions (with the Global South taking the lead as fifteen of these targets have been set by developing countries).
This is the latest in a series of expressions of the growing engagement of the health community in the UNFCCC process. We are seeing health organizations actively participating in some negotiation tracks, with actions that range from presenting a submission to the Global Stocktake – requesting that the GST track the health outcomes of climate action – to advocating for the COP27 work programme to urgently scale up mitigation, ambition and implementation (MWP) to have a sectoral approach, and for healthcare to be considered in it. Underpinning these efforts are thousands of health systems and facilities that are walking the talk by carrying out climate vulnerability assessments and adopting mitigation plans. For many health sector stakeholders, especially in the Global South, some decarbonisation strategies are actually crucial to building resilience, such as installing renewable energy sources in healthcare facilities to decrease dependence on unstable grids, or building pandemic preparedness by investing in sustainable cold chains for vaccines.
The side event was also an opportunity to promote an open letter to universities and education stakeholders with “a call for strengthening climate change education for all health professionals”, and to hear about the Health Community Recommendations submitted to SB 56. On the latter, it is worth recognizing that health professionals from all around the world are turning up in unprecedented numbers to the climate negotiations, providing a much needed push to non-Party demands for ambitious climate action and climate justice by wielding a powerful health argument. As Health Care Without Harm’s representative Anna Fuhrmann stated in the event, “thanks to the trusted voice of nurses, doctors, and all other allied healthcare professionals, we are starting to see a broader societal shift towards an understanding that we need to take care of our planet to be able to live in a healthy and just world”.
The side event started the drum roll for the official launch of the Alliance on Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), an international mechanism to support delivery of the COP26 Health Programme which the WHO will host on June 27th. Through Health Care Without Harm, and other partners like the Global Climate and Health Alliance and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations, civil society will have a seat at the table. ECO will follow this alliance closely to make sure that the first health-focused process born out of the climate negotiations delivers on its promise for healthy people on a healthy planet.