Amid growing geopolitical instability, and after 10 years of unprecedented global temperatures marking a "decade of deadly heat," diplomatic efforts to address the health impacts of climate change are more important than ever.
The past year will be remembered as the first that global temperatures breached 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial times, the resulting climate extremes killing thousands, displacing millions, and threatening livelihoods worldwide. At the same time, following a historic year of elections globally and amid major wars and political turmoil, 2024 saw significant political shifts away from climate-friendly parties and policies.
To regain some of the political momentum lost in 2024, policymakers will need to explore ways to strengthen public support for action on climate change and global health.
Wavering Momentum
Progress on many of the expected milestones for climate and health diplomacy fell short in 2024. The twenty-ninth Conference of the Parties (COP29)—the United Nations (UN) climate conference that took place in Azerbaijan—led to only a modest increase in climate finance, leaving developing nations disappointed and the sense that climate diplomacy was at a low point. UN conferences on biodiversity, desertification, and plastics all failed to reach an agreement, pushing negotiations to 2025. Adding to those setbacks, after 12 rounds of negotiations over the course of three years, governments have still not finalized a global pandemic agreement.
Policymakers will need to explore ways to strengthen public support for action on climate change and global health
This lack of consensus could be explained—at least in part—by the record-breaking 74 national elections that took place in 2024, including in countries that are major greenhouse gas emitters and hold sway over global climate policy, such as the United States, the European Union, India, Mexico, and South Africa. Many national governments were preoccupied with winning voters at home rather than delivering on global agreements.
Despite polls pointing to the public's concern about climate change and the environment, climate action was conspicuously absent from most election campaigns. Climate change, for example, did not play a significant role in the debates of the 2024 presidential election in the United States, the world's largest historical emitter, despite the candidates' markedly different climate agendas: President-elect Donald Trump's plans are expected to lead to an additional 4 billion tons of U.S. emissions by 2030 rather than a continuation of existing climate policies put in place under the Biden-Harris administration, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes some $400 billion for climate-related measures. Similarly, the fate of global health programs and budgets is uncertain amid political transitions in the United States and many other donor countries.
Health Diplomacy in the Climate Crisis
The global health community has suggested that the health argument for climate action could help build more bipartisan support for cutting emissions. This argument points to the ways in which climate change shapes people's personal health and well-being—and that of their children and grandchildren—while highlighting the positive health effects of climate action, such as through lowering air pollution.
Citizens and voters all over the world are concerned about their livelihoods, security, and the future of their children. By making more explicit connections between climate policies and people's personal health, lives, and livelihoods, governments could convince citizens that green policies will benefit them personally.
Health has also proven to be a helpful lens to bring into focus the inequities of climate change, given that low-income communities and countries bear higher health risks from extreme heat, greater food insecurity, increased rates of chronic illness, and the brunt of pollution. To be effective in 2025, governments will need to address voters' concerns and anger over the growing inequity and economic insecurity in societies. Delivering improved health outcomes and standard of living will be an important metric of success for any policy.
Health is increasingly visible in global climate debates and on many countries' climate agendas. Governments collectively recognized the connection between climate change and human health for the first time in 2023, when 150 countries adopted a political declaration on climate and health at the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 2024, a follow-up resolution was adopted at the World Health Assembly, and the Group of 20 passed a ministerial declaration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, giving the COP28 declaration a stronger mandate. Last December, the COP29 UN climate conference included discussions on measuring progress toward the global goal of adapting to climate change, including by developing health-specific indicators. This year, the climate change and global health agendas will continue to move closer together in important ways, including in the areas of extreme heat and air pollution and as part of government efforts to develop new climate plans in 2025.
