On November 8th, 2022, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Planetary Health Policy Team signed “COP27 Health Community Policy Recommendations” ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).

The Paris Agreement that was adopted in COP21 held in France in 2015 acknowledges the relevance of the right to health to climate action. To date, integration of health issues into policymaking and monitoring under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been insufficient, despite The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warnings of human health impacts since 1990. Climate-sensitive health threats already cause millions of avoidable deaths annually, undermining the right to health and a healthy environment, and driving severe productivity losses.

Prior to the COP27 that will be held in Egypt from 6-18 November 2022, this policy recommendation was jointly developed on the themes of loss and damage, mitigation, adaptation, and finance by the lead of Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) and other global health and environmental organizations.

 ■Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA):

GCHA is made up of health and development organizations from around the world. They are a consortium of global health and development-related organizations, with their members united with the shared vision of a world in which the health impacts of climate change are kept to a minimum, and the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation are maximized. GCHA works to ensure that health communities’ voice is heard in climate change policymaking.