Belem, 13 November 2025 – Today, on
Health Day at COP30, Regions4,
the Global
Climate & Health Alliance and CarbonCopy
hosted a press conference, focused on “Positioning Health
at the Centre of Adaptation Finance.”
High level
speakers at this event warned that, as the global climate
crisis accelerates, its devastating impacts on health are
intensifying, making climate change one of the most
important threats to human health. They argued that concerns
about the health impacts of continued global warming and the
benefits of immediate actions should significantly shape
decisions about climate policy and climate action.
The
press conference saw the participation of Dr Marina
Romanello of the Lancet Countdown, along with
ministerial representatives, including Dr Sandra
Cortes of Chile, Md Ziaul Haque of
Bangladesh, Oden Ewa of Nigeria and
Dr Vishwas Chitale of India and
Carlos Lopes, the COP30 Presidency’s
Special Envoy for Africa. The press conference was moderated
by Jeni Miller of the Global Climate and
Health Alliance.
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“Each year, more than half a
million lives are lost due to heat, and over 150,000 deaths
are linked to wildfire smoke exposure,” said Dr
Marina Romanello, Lancet Countdown Executive
Director, Institute for Global Health, University College
London. “Health systems, already stretched and
underfunded, are struggling to cope with these growing
pressures, and most are still unprepared for what is
coming.”
“Adaptation in the health sector
is essential, but current funding is nowhere near
sufficient,” says Dr Marina Romanello.
“Only 44% of countries have costed their
health adaptation needs, and existing finance falls short by
billions. Without urgent investment, we will not be able to
protect populations from escalating climate
impacts.”
The discussion at the press conference
highlighted that the health finance gap is a critical
component of the overall adaptation finance gap, and the
world’s inaction is further compounding the situation and
the cost. The latest Adaptation
Gap Report estimated that developing countries’ needs
will be $310-365 billion a year by 2035. The international
community is struggling to mobilise the c.$40 billion
Glasgow Pact Goal for adaptation finance.
“With
regards to finance, the reality is that we have a deficit
that is quite colossal,” Carlos Lopes, Special
Envoy for Africa, COP30 Presidency. “We have
to admit that most of the efforts that are being done are
from the national authorities, so what we need to expect
from financing coming from abroad is that it needs to be
complementary.”
This year’s Adaptation
Gap Report highlighted that just 4% of multilateral
climate adaptation funding between 2019-2023 was allocated
to health. A recent report by adelphi
stressed that out of all multilateral climate finance, only
0.5% goes to health, health being critically threatened by
climate change.
“Our Health National Adaptation
Plan was designed to identify the real problems, build
capacity and use our limited resources more
effectively,” said Md Ziaul Haque, Additional
Director General, Ministry of Environment,
Bangladesh. “But the truth is, our adaptation
financing for health is far below what is needed. The gap
between what we require and what we receive is enormous. We
need multilateral funding entities to bring forward
concrete, holistic proposals that match the scale of the
challenge.”
The latest Lancet
Countdown Report, published last month, stressed the
dire situation in which the world finds itself, with the
number of climate change-related deaths reaching the
millions, and millions more affected by extreme heat,
extreme rainfall and flooding, ever more vicious storms and
creeping desertification. In this context, world leaders are
meeting in Belem, Brazil, in what is being termed both the
“Adaptation COP” and the “Implementation
COP”.
“According to India’s 2023 national
communication to the UNFCCC, the country will require $643
billion between now and 2030 to adapt to climate change
under a business-as-usual scenario,” said Dr
Vishwas Chitale, Fellow, Council for Energy, Environment
& Water, India and Research Fellow, United
Nations. “India has already made significant
progress, spending $146 billion in 2021-2022 alone, the
equivalent of 5.6% of GDP, a remarkable rise from 3.7% spent
in 2015-2016.”
Speakers highlighted the recently
announced Climate and Health Funders Coalition which has
committed an initial $300 million for integrated action to
tackle both the causes of climate change and its
consequencesfor health – accelerating solutions where
they are needed most.
“The launch of the Climate
and Health Funders Coalition, with an annual commitment of
$300 million in philanthropic funding, is an important and
encouraging signal. We know that much more than that is
needed to fully address adaptation needs.” said
Jeni Miller, Executive Director, Global Climate and Health
Alliance. “Nevertheless, it shows that the world
is beginning to recognise that protecting health must be at
the centre of climate adaptation.”
The speakers
highlighted the importance of adaptation finance being
delivered to strengthen health systems, and said this
finance must be just, equitable, transparent, accessible, to
enable health resilience, especially in vulnerable
countries. The Belem
Health Action
Plan, a roadmap that aims to strengthen health systems
globally, so that they can better cope with the impacts of
climate change, particularly in vulnerable countries and
communities, will help reinforce health and health systems
across the world, and the Global Goal on Adaptation, with
its diverse health and finance indicators will be a crucial
foundation to ensure meaningful progress.
“To
confront the climate crisis effectively, we cannot work in
silos,” said Dr Sandra Cortes, President of the
Climate Change Scientific Committee, Ministry of
Environment, Chile. “It is vital to combine the
efforts of different ministries, not only health but also
transport, energy and food production, so that we generate
co-benefits across sectors. A more integrated approach will
allow us to improve public health, reduce emissions and
create fairer, more sustainable development opportunities
for everyone.”
As negotiators in Belem aim to
reach meaningful progress on adaptation and implementation,
this press conference highlighted the urgency of immediate
policy action on adaptation finance for health, globally and
among the most vulnerable
communities.
