The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 30 to December 12, 2023.Health Day was set up for the first time to take place on December 3 to highlight the health impacts of climate change, with discussions by environment and health ministers from around the world. With 100 days until the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, the open letter was published to call on the COP28 President to deliver a transformative agenda.

Fossil fuel emissions, also mentioned in this letter, are linked to asthma, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and are linked to one in five deaths worldwide. September 7 is also the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2019, and Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) believes it is critical to remind people of these dangers in order to encourage future behavior change.

HGPI, along with more than 70 NGOs, civil society organizations and health professionals, call on the COP28 President to take steps to reduce air pollution and deliver win-wins for climate, public health, and economies.

This open letter places particular emphasis on the following points:
1. The link between health and climate change: The open letter commends the COP28 President for establishing a “Health Day” and health inter-ministerial meetings for the first time, but also warns of a lack of concrete action on air pollution.

2. Urgency of air pollution: Failure to implement air pollution control measures will cause millions of premature deaths every year and increase economic costs. In particular, it is closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions, and warns that 99% of the world’s population breathes air that fails to meet WHO guidelines.

3. Calls for effective interventions: Interventions that are called in the letter include, replacing coal with renewable sources of energy for power production, replacing diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles, eliminating uncontrolled diesel emissions, and preventing crop burning and forest fires.

4. Global responsibility and equity: Air pollution is a particularly serious problem in low- and middle-income countries and requires global climate commitments and funding. In particular, action is required to ensure that the removal of fossil fuel subsidies is more appropriately recognized as providing co-benefits that promote clean air and climate change action for people.

For the full text of the open letter, please see the PDF below.

To read the original open letter, please click here.

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