‘Glaring omission’
Climate campaigners also criticised the failure of some high-emitting nations such as India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa to endorse the COP28 Health Declaration on Climate and Health.
“(That) carries huge consequences for the populations of those countries in addition to the emissions that need to be addressed globally,” said Jess Beagley, policy lead for the GCHA, a coalition of health non-governmental organisations and health professionals.
The alliance called the declaration’s failure to mention fossil fuels a “glaring omission”.
It did include the announcement of US$1 billion in pledges from governments, charities and development banks to mobilise finance for climate and health in developing countries, where climate-related health risks are especially high.
The funding initiative includes US$300 million from the Global Fund, US$100 million from the Rockefeller Foundation to support climate and health solutions, and a 54-million-pound (US$69 million) pledge from the British government.
At present, health-focused climate action only receives 2 per cent of adaptation funding and 0.5 per cent of climate funding.
Health and climate campaigners say that is nowhere near enough to tackle the growing burden of tropical diseases as the world warms, along with other climate-driven health threats including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.
But climate finance to ramp up cleaner energy access to people across the world must be stepped up, a push that would bring immediate health benefits with it, campaigners say.
About four out of every five families in Africa still cook with polluting stoves, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Access to cleaner cooking alternatives could dramatically slash emissions – and improve air quality, said Birol, calling on richer nations to fund just transition initiatives in poorer nations.
Tedros urged the world’s health sector, which accounts for about 5 per cent of global emissions, to lead by example on reducing its carbon footprint.
“The health workforce is one of the largest in the world, present in almost every community,” he told journalists.
“We have a role to speak up on behalf of the populations we serve to raise ambition for a cleaner, greener, and healthier future.”
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