The Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) has criticised governments at the COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, for failing to deliver transformative action on fossil fuels while acknowledging limited progress on adaptation finance and just transition frameworks.
The two week United Nations Climate Change Conference closed on Saturday, November 22, with a compromise deal that omitted binding language on phasing out fossil fuels from the main agreement text. Instead, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago announced he would create separate voluntary roadmaps on transitioning away from fossil fuels and halting deforestation.
Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the GCHA, a consortium of more than 200 health organisations worldwide, said Belem had promised to be a turning point but did not deliver on that vision. She noted that on the two most decisive issues for health, adaptation finance and fossil fuel phaseout, governments produced mixed results on finance while leaving unclear what any future roadmap on ending the fossil fuel era would look like.
The final agreement includes a pledge for wealthy nations to triple adaptation finance by 2035, up from the current $40 billion Glasgow goal to approximately $120 billion annually. However, Miller said this timeline represents a delay from the 2030 deadline requested by developing countries, meaning many more people will suffer and die while awaiting vital support.
The health alliance welcomed the launch of the Belem Health Action Plan during COP30’s Health Day on November 13. The plan, endorsed by approximately 80 countries and institutions, represents the first international climate adaptation framework dedicated specifically to health systems. It outlines 60 action items across surveillance systems, evidence based policies and health innovation. A coalition of more than 35 philanthropic organisations pledged $300 million to support implementation.
However, health advocates noted this funding represents a fraction of estimated needs. The United Nations Environment Programme has stated that basic health adaptation alone requires approximately $11 billion annually, while current health specific climate finance reaches only $500 to $700 million per year.
Miller said the COP30 agreement to triple adaptation finance was a positive step but warned that developing countries, which have done little to cause the climate crisis, remain far less equipped to prepare for and adapt to climate impacts. She noted that even high income countries are seeing healthcare systems stretched to their limits by extreme weather events.
The final deal also established a Just Transition Mechanism to enhance international cooperation, technical assistance and capacity building. Governments recognised the importance of protecting the human right to health and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in just transitions.
Howard Catton, Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Nurses, said nurses carry the memories of patients whose suffering is tied to fossil fuels, from children gasping for air to families grieving after climate disasters. He called for urgent investment in resilient health systems and a rapid, just phaseout of fossil fuels.
Dr Courtney Howard, Board Chair of the GCHA, who serves Indigenous populations in the Canadian high Arctic, said the 2023 wildfires that forced evacuation of her hospital exposed 354 million people globally to increased air pollution, leading to over 82,000 premature deaths. She said even high income countries cannot adapt in a healthy way to current emissions trajectories and called on politicians to decide to save lives with policies that phase out fossil fuels.
The summit saw procedural disputes in its final hours, with delegates from the European Union, Colombia, Switzerland and Panama protesting what they called lack of transparency and the bypassing of agreed language. Colombia’s climate negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey said a climate decision that cannot even mention fossil fuels is not neutrality but complicity.
The next UN climate summit, COP31, will take place in Antalya, Turkey in 2026.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
