The World Health Organization has launched an advocacy, communications and partnerships plan to advance the health response to climate change, air pollution and energy poverty from 2025 to 2028. The plan translates the mandate set by Member States at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly into a coordinated programme of action, aiming to place health at the centre of global climate, clean air and energy agendas. It follows the Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health, adopted in May 2025 in response to resolution WHA77.14, and the updated roadmap on air pollution and health, linked to resolution WHA68/18. The plan connects political commitments with practical strategies to build momentum, unite stakeholders and deliver health and climate benefits. It also gives Member States tools for negotiations, national climate planning and access to climate finance.
A Mandate for Health-Led Climate Action
The plan responds to an established health burden and a financing gap. More than seven million people die each year from air pollution, while health systems contribute close to five percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, only around 0.5% of multilateral climate finance goes to projects that explicitly aim to protect or improve human health. Member States already hold a climate and health mandate, but delivery now depends on strategic partnerships, evidence-based communication and advocacy support. The plan aims to bridge that gap by linking health protection with climate action that can save lives.
For Member States, the plan provides ready-to-use messaging on the health case for climate action, technical guidance for negotiators in UN and other processes, and a coordinated voice across the UN system. It also offers tools to integrate health into Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. Routes into climate finance mechanisms include the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund. For the wider community, the plan links health workers, civil society, city leaders, financial actors and others around a shared story and set of asks. Its purpose is to narrow the distance between political commitment and practical climate action that protects health.
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Four Strategic Areas Guide Delivery
The plan sets out four strategic areas for coordinated implementation. The first consolidates WHO’s role as a global leader in climate change, air quality, energy and health. This includes work through the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health, the WHO-WMO Joint Office for Climate and Health, and guidance on integrating health into Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans.
The second area builds awareness and advocacy across the climate, energy and health sectors. The WHO-WMO Climate Communications Hub anchors this activity, alongside flagship initiatives such as Beat the Heat. The third area expands multi-sectoral engagement with finance, energy, urban planning, security, humanitarian actors and others. The fourth area strengthens health sector climate resilience and sustainability, including a WHO Secretariat roadmap to net zero by 2030 and continued support to Member States implementing the Operational Framework for Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Health Systems. Together, these areas combine global leadership, public communication, cross-sector engagement and health-system action within the 2025–2028 timeframe. They also connect technical guidance for governments with wider advocacy that can reach communities, institutions and decision-makers across sectors, while keeping health visible in climate, clean air and energy agendas.
Partnerships Link Health, Finance and Policy
Delivery depends on a wide ecosystem of partners across national, international and community settings. WHO will continue to support countries through the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health, the WHO-WMO joint office and work across the UN system. Ongoing engagement also extends to multilateral climate and finance mechanisms, research initiatives such as the Lancet Countdown and civil society through the WHO Civil Society Working Group and the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
The partnership model also includes city networks, health professional associations, academic institutions and others. This broad engagement reflects the plan’s focus on linking health with climate, clean air and energy decision-making rather than treating health as a separate concern. Climate and health often remain isolated from wider policy and financing decisions, while extreme weather and its impacts put growing strain on health systems worldwide. The plan therefore connects health with the way people live, work and move, including energy, housing, food systems and transport. Its communication focus also rests on the view that accurate information about effective climate solutions can support change when it reaches the audiences able to act. This approach brings countries and a broad coalition of partners around a shared agenda for translating commitments into results for people.
The 2025–2028 plan gives Member States, partners and the wider health community a structured route for elevating health within climate, clean air and energy decisions. Its practical tools, communication support, negotiating guidance, financing routes and partnership mechanisms seek to turn existing commitments into implementation. By combining advocacy, communication and multi-sectoral collaboration, the plan aims to support measurable benefits for people, health systems and the planet while keeping health central to climate and energy action over the next four years. The emphasis remains on coordinated action and implementation across the 2025–2028 period.
Source: World Health Organization
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