For the Health of People and Planet Priorities for a Healthy COP28

A statement by the Global Climate and Health Alliance and other organisations calling on COP28 Parties to integrate health into all climate policies, phase out fossil fuels, and scale finance to protect human health and the environment.

• The signatories call for a full phase-out of fossil fuels and a commitment to no new fossil fuel infrastructure to align with the Paris Agreement. They argue that a just transition to renewable energy is a "public health imperative" and could save 3.6 million lives annually. The document asserts that fossil gas cannot be a transition fuel due to its health and climate impacts, and warns that alternatives like carbon capture and storage or geoengineering will not provide the same health gains as renewable energy.
• The document advocates for adaptation planning and monitoring that prioritises health and wellbeing outcomes. It suggests that health considerations be integrated into National Adaptation Plans or dedicated Health National Adaptation Plans and calls for the inclusion of outcomes-based health targets and metrics within the Global Goal on Adaptation Framework at COP28.
• The signatories demand a Loss and Damage Fund that is flexible, rapidly accessible, and based on grants rather than loans to avoid cycles of debt and poverty. They emphasize the need for technical assistance via the Santiago Network to better quantify health-related losses and damages, including non-economic and slow-onset losses.
• The statement calls for rapidly scaled climate finance, noting that the 100bn USD target is overdue and requesting a doubling of adaptation finance by 2025. It suggests that universal health coverage could be achieved using approximately one seventh of the funds currently spent globally on fossil fuel subsidies.
• Regarding the Global Stocktake (GST), the document requests that the decision call for enhanced NDCs with 1.5°C aligned economy-wide targets for 2030/2035. It argues that health should be treated as a theme in the adaptation section of the GST decision rather than as a separate sector, reflecting that health determinants lie largely outside the healthcare sector.
• The signatories urge a transition in food and agriculture systems toward agroecology, Indigenous foodways, and a move away from industrial livestock farming. They state that transitioning to sustainable healthy diets could prevent 11 million premature adult deaths annually from diet-related non-communicable diseases and undernutrition.
• The document calls for the UNFCCC Secretariat to limit the influence of fossil fuel companies and other "unhealthy commodity industries" on policymaking, suggesting a model similar to the exclusion of the tobacco industry under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

APA

Global Climate and Health Alliance (n.d.). For the Health of People and Planet Priorities for a Healthy COP28. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Priorities-for-a-Healthy-COP28_16-November.pdf

Chicago

Global Climate and Health Alliance. For the Health of People and Planet Priorities for a Healthy COP28. n.d. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Priorities-for-a-Healthy-COP28_16-November.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Global Climate and Health Alliance |title=For the Health of People and Planet Priorities for a Healthy COP28 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Priorities-for-a-Healthy-COP28_16-November.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{globalclimateandhealthalliancendhealth, author = {{Global Climate and Health Alliance}}, title = {{For the Health of People and Planet Priorities for a Healthy COP28}}, publisher = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Priorities-for-a-Healthy-COP28_16-November.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }