May Round-Up

Climate-health gained traction at the 79th World Health Assembly and in the run-up to COP31, where dynamic and resilient health systems were recognised as a top priority theme.

Global governance & policy

• Health Community: “Climate & Health Inseparable in Practice So Must Be In Policy”, Global Climate & Health Alliance
  The health community calls for climate and health to be treated as a unified policy priority, not parallel tracks.

• World Health Organization Must Prioritize Workers, Experts Say, Inside Climate News
  Experts urge WHO to centre occupational health and worker safety in its climate and health agenda.

• Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO, The Guardian
  A growing coalition of health experts is pushing WHO to formally recognise climate change as a global public health emergency.

• Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health: Call to Action, WHO
  A new pan-European commission sets out concrete recommendations for integrating climate and health across policy, systems, and research in the region.

• General Assembly backs historic World Court climate crisis ruling, UN
  The UN General Assembly endorses a landmark World Court ruling on states’ climate obligations, with significant implications for health-related loss and damage claims.

• Health, climate change, air quality and energy at the 79th World Health Assembly, WHO
  WHA79 convened member states around climate, air quality, and energy as interconnected health priorities.

  • Climate-health events at WHA79

• Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems Incorporated in Top 10 Priority Themes at COP31, COP31
  Health system resilience formally recognised as one of COP31’s top ten priority themes, a significant step for the health-climate policy agenda.

• Linking Health and Climate Action: Five recommendations for COP31 from Santa Marta, International Institute for Sustainable Development
  IISD distills five concrete recommendations for embedding health in COP31 negotiations, drawing on outcomes from the Santa Marta conference.

• Advancing Climate Health for Vulnerable Groups in the United States: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  An assessment of US progress on climate health equity under the Biden administration and the outlook for vulnerable communities going forward.

Finance & loss and damage

• Adapting to Climate-Related Health Risks: The Economic Case for Climate Services for Health, World Resources Institute
  Makes the economic case for investing in climate services for health, showing the costs of inaction far outweigh the costs of adaptation.

• The Missing Link in Heat Action Planning: Financing for Implementation, Climate & Sustainability Initiative
  Identifies financing as the critical gap between heat action plans on paper and effective implementation on the ground.

Extreme heat

• New insurance pays Indian workers to stay home when heat turns deadly, South China Morning Post
  A novel insurance scheme in India compensates informal workers for lost income when heat crosses dangerous thresholds — a practical model for protecting the most exposed.

• Extreme Heat in India: A Review of the Evolving Policy and Practice Landscape, NRDC
  India Maps the rapidly evolving landscape of heat policy and practice in India, highlighting progress and the gaps that remain.

• How four cities are cutting heat, pollution and health risks - and saving money, World Economic Forum
  Profiles four cities demonstrating that low-cost interventions can simultaneously reduce heat exposure, air pollution, and health risks — while generating savings.

Research, evidence & tools

• Climate change and public health research ethics in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic literature review, The Journal of Climate Change and Health
  A systematic review surfacing ethical challenges in climate-health research conducted in lower-income settings, from consent and equity to research priority-setting.

• Advancing and Integrating Climate and Health Policies: Insights from Six Geographies

  • Research paper, Journal of Climate Change and Health

  • Synthesis report, Center for Climate Change Communication (C4), George Mason University

  • National reports, C4 Cross-country analysis of how six geographies are advancing climate-health policy integration, with national reports and a synthesis of common barriers and enablers.

• Justice in priority-setting for research on health and climate change, WHO
  Bulletin Examines whose voices and health burdens shape the climate-health research agenda — and what justice requires in how priorities are set.

• Climate-health messages build support for climate action, Wellcome & CORE Evidence from Wellcome and CORE showing that framing climate change as a health issue measurably increases public support for climate action.

• Climate, Health & Equity, Health Affairs, May 2026 Issue
  A dedicated issue examining the intersection of climate, health, and equity across policy, economics, and health systems planning.

  • Who Pays When Temperatures Soar?

  • Aligning Health Policy With Climate Action: Evidence-Based Interventions To Decarbonize Care, Improve Climate Resilience

  • From Crisis To Strategy: Mainstreaming Climate Risk In Health Systems Planning

• Role of the arts and culture in addressing the health impacts of climate change: Behavioural and Cultural Insights policy brief series, WHO
  A WHO policy brief exploring how arts and culture can be mobilised as tools for communicating climate-health risks and driving behaviour change.