29/12/2025
The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) held in Belém, Brazil, last month marked an important shift by positioning health as a central climate issue within global climate governance. For the first time, COP decisions explicitly recognised the public health and air-quality benefits of climate action, underscoring that every fraction of warming translates into real health impacts. Key outcomes included the Belém Health Action Plan, supported by more than 30 governments, to strengthen climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems, with progress to be reviewed by 2028. COP30 also adopted 59 global adaptation indicators, including eight health indicators, enabling improved tracking under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. While momentum grew around just transition discussions, greener health systems and loss and damage opportunities, gaps remain in dedicated health adaptation finance, binding health integration, and fossil fuel phase-out. FIP was represented by Menna Zayed, researcher at Women in Global Health, at the event.
Photo: © UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth