COP28: Health, Relief, Recovery and Peace

The highly anticipated Health, Relief, Recovery and Peace Day took place for the first time in COP’s history, with over 100 countries in attendance. The trailblazing Climate-Health Ministerial was also the first to ever be held at a COP which took place in the inauguration of the Faith Pavilion. The day placed people at the heart of the climate conversation, which involved discussions of positive and constructive visions for climate, health, lives and livelihood.

Following the unveiling of a new COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health at the World Climate Action Summit yesterday, 123 countries have now endorsed the Declaration in which governments acknowledge the pressing health impacts of climate change on communities and countries.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director-General of the World Health Organization noted that “for too long health has been a footnote in climate discussions” but it had been made clear that health considerations will now be at the forefront of future climate change discussions. Indeed, for the first time Health Ministers are attending the COP28 conference with their colleagues from Environment Ministries showing the shift in focus to the social implications of government decisions on climate policies.

A central task of COP28 is the Global Stocktake. This is a critical turning point when it comes to efforts to address climate change, as it will allow countries and other stakeholders to see where they are collectively making progress toward meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement – and where they are falling short. It’s like taking an inventory. It means looking at everything related to where the world stands on climate action and support, identifying the gaps, and working together to agree on solutions pathways (to 2030 and beyond). For the past two days the parties have been negotiating the text and an updated draft is expected to be released on Monday 4 December.

Razan Al Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature unveiled $1.7 billion in nature conservation finance. The COP28 Presidency and its partners presented a number of ambitious new initiatives alongside the committed finance to simultaneously meet climate and biodiversity goals. President Lula da Silva and the COP28 Presidency also announced a two-year partnership to mobilize new resources and political support for nature on the road to COP30 in Belém. During the event UAE announced $100 million contribution of new finance for nature climate projects with an initial investment in the Ghanian governments’ Resilient Ghana Plan.

Over the course of the day various global funding initiative have been launched with both public and private bodies incentivised to commit their support including:

• Countries and global donors have pledged over $777 million towards the Reaching the Last Mile Fund (RLMF) which aims to end two devastating neglected tropical diseases, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis in all 39 countries within Africa. RLMF represents an ambitious vision for an Africa free from the burden of these preventable diseases and unlocking the potential of millions across the continent. The pledging event, supported by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan President of the UAE in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation endeavours to improve the lives of 1.6 billion people.
• At the World Climate Action Summit, more than $2.5 billion has been mobilized to support the food-climate agenda.
• The UAE-led Africa Green Investment initiative pledged to be transformational not only for the continent of Africa, but also for the planet. COP28 successfully built on the existing investment of $4.5 billion of private, public and developmental capital for projects across Africa by allocating over 50% to clean energy projects in 8 countries within the first six months of its launching. Projects that will receive funding include 1.8 GW of renewable energy capacity, 2 GW of green hydrogen capacity and pioneering of the green mining partnership.

The landmark 2023 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Climate and Health was launched.

In 2015, countries committed to limit global warming to “well below 2°C” as part of the landmark Paris Agreement. The annual countdown report provides an independent assessment of progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, and represents the findings and consensus of 52 leading academic institutions and UN agencies. The report found the world saw the highest global temperatures in over 100,000 years in 2023, and each continent broke heat records in 2022. Heatwaves, droughts, floods, and other climate events were found to be putting immense pressure on cities, food systems, health systems and livelihoods. The report deems it essential that new ways are found to address and adapt to the rising global temperatures and the stress that these changes are placing on health systems.