Health Takes Centre Stage at COP30: A Turning Point for Climate and Health Systems

COP30 highlighted the increasingly complex web of interconnected challenges facing health systems. Discussions drew explicit links between climate change, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and even the water demands of AI infrastructure, reinforcing that comprehensive, cross-sectoral strategies are essential.

Health Systems Global’s Climate Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems Technical Working Group (TWG) was closely monitoring the negotiations on climate action and their links to health systems during COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Despite the disappointing overall outcomes – where several member states made inappropriate statements and a binding commitment to fossil fuel phase-out was once again absent from the final text – it is heartening to see health emerge as a central pillar of global climate action.

The launch of the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) marked a watershed moment: for the first time, a global climate summit produced a specific, action-oriented plan for health systems. There is now a greater need than ever for global diplomacy through frameworks like the UNFCCC, and for critical networks like HSG – made up of researchers working closely with decision-makers and policy – to share findings that can support countries in translating these commitments into action.

The Belém Health Action Plan: A Global First

The primary health outcome of COP30 was the adoption of the voluntary Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP), a global framework designed to mobilize countries to build climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health systems. The plan integrates mitigation, adaptation, and Loss and Damage measures, and is guided by the principles of health equity, climate justice, and social participation.

The BHAP is structured around three main lines of action:

• Surveillance and Monitoring: Strengthening integrated, climate-informed health surveillance systems to track and respond to climate-sensitive diseases such as dengue, cholera, and heat-related illnesses.
• Evidence-based Policies and Capacity-Building: Enhancing the ability of national and local health systems to implement effective solutions and training health professionals to deal with changing disease patterns and climate impacts.
• Innovation, Production, and Digital Health: Promoting research, developing sustainable health technologies such as energy-efficient hospitals and solar-powered clinics, and leveraging digital tools and AI for climate vulnerability mapping and early warning systems.

A major and welcome theme running through the BHAP is the use of measurable health outcomes as a success metric for global adaptation measures – a recognition that climate progress must ultimately be judged by its impact on human health and wellbeing.

Key Decisions and Health-Related Outcomes

Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)

Parties agreed on 59 voluntary indicators to measure progress on adaptation, including specific metrics for public health. This is a significant step forward, as it means health outcomes can now be formally tracked as a measure of climate success.

Finance Mobilization and Integration into National Climate Plans

The Climate and Health Funders Coalition – a group of philanthropic organizations – announced an initial investment of USD 300 million to support implementation of the BHAP. This funding directly addresses the chronic underfunding of health adaptation, which currently receives less than 1% of climate finance. While welcome, it also underscores how much more investment is needed at scale.

Agreements from COP30 encourage countries to embed health indicators and objectives into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), creating clearer accountability and reporting frameworks for health outcomes.

Focus on Vulnerable Populations

The decisions place particular emphasis on protecting the most vulnerable populations, including women, Indigenous peoples, and migrant workers, who are disproportionately affected by climate-related health crises. This focus on equity aligns closely with HSG’s own priorities around health systems for all.

Loss & Damage: Health on the Agenda

COP30 also saw important discussions on Loss and Damage (L&D) as it relates to health. Key developments included:

• Discussions on the “health adaptation gap”, with a focus on building resilient health systems and early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases. Countries including India pushed for concrete finance and adaptation measures to address zones facing hard limits of adaptation.
• Progress on the operationalization of the L&D Fund, with a focus on grant-based support and rapid disbursement mechanisms.
• Completion of the third review of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for L&D, aiming to better link knowledge (via the Santiago Network) with action – including addressing worsening health outcomes in the most affected regions.
• Strong advocacy from developing nations, including India, emphasizing that L&D finance is an obligation, not a pledge, particularly for climate-impacted regions such as the Sundarbans.

What This Means for HSG Networks and the Road to COP31

COP30 confirmed a broader shift towards execution: action plans are being launched, and health is finally receiving the dedicated attention it deserves within global climate negotiations. Yet significant challenges remain. The failure to secure a binding fossil fuel phase-out, a primary driver of the climate and health crises, was a sobering reminder that the pace of diplomacy continues to fall short of what the evidence requires, and that the gaps between developed and developing countries on finance and ambition remain wide.

The window between COP30 and COP31 is not a pause — it is where the real work begins. Countries will be expected to submit updated NDCs that embed the health commitments made in Belém, and the BHAP will face its first real test: whether voluntary frameworks translate into funded, implemented national action. The key advocacy priorities for this period are clear. Health must be named explicitly within climate finance streams, including the New Collective Quantified Goal, given that it currently receives less than 1% of adaptation funding. Loss and Damage finance must recognize health system resilience — not as a peripheral concern but as a core obligation, particularly for regions already facing hard limits of adaptation. And progress against the 59 GGA health indicators must be tracked with disaggregated data, so that the most marginalized communities are not invisible in the accounting.

As a TWG composed of researchers working directly at the interface of evidence and policy, HSG is well placed to drive this agenda forward. Our influence is not built only at COP — it is built through the quality and accessibility of what we produce between COPs: policy briefs and rapid evidence reviews that policymakers can actually use; direct technical support to LMIC delegations who arrive at negotiations under-resourced; active engagement in UNFCCC intersessional processes such as SB62; and coalition-building across health, AMR, and digital health constituencies to ensure we speak with a joined-up voice and advocate for the health systems investments that communities around the world urgently need. The road to COP31 starts now.