UN Climate Action Summit 2019. The WHO calls stakeholders to take action on climate and health.

To boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on all leaders to New York the 23th of September for the 2019 Climate Action Summit with the concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

“I want to hear about how we are going to stop the increase in emissions by 2020, and dramatically reduce emissions to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century

The Summit aims to send strong market and political signals and inject momentum in the “race to the top” among countries, companies, cities and civil society that is needed to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This event will bring together governments, the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organizations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas:

  • A global transition to renewable energy;
  • Sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities;
  • Sustainable agriculture and management of forests and oceans;
  • Resilience and adaptation to climate impacts;
  • Alignment of public and private finance with a net zero economy.

The same human activities that are destabilizing the Earth’s climate also contribute directly to poor health. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a specific Call to Action inviting various key stakeholders to commit to ambitious actions on climate change and health and invest in proven interventions for climate-resilient health systems, and in air quality monitoring and policy implementation:

  • As a national or subnational government, you can commit to achieving air quality that is safe for your citizens, and to align your climate change and air pollution policies, by 2030.
  • As a multilateral development bank, climate fund, bilateral development agency, philanthropic organization, or private sector actor, you can commit to significantly scale up your investment in proven interventions for climate-resilient health systems, and in air quality monitoring and policy implementation.

You can find more information on how you can develop these commitments on this website, as well as the resources and support that are available for you to act on health.

To discover more about the Summit click here.