WHO, 17 May 2026

Climate change is a health crisis – and fixing it is a health opportunity

Independent Commission of former heads of government, international bodies, ministers and civil society leaders delivers 17 recommendations for what WHO and countries should do next.

Energy prices are volatile, supply chains are under strain, and the geopolitical shocks of recent years have exposed how fragile fossil fuel dependency makes societies; economically, politically and in terms of health. In the last decade the global temperature increase has accelerated significantly, and the pan-European region is the fastest-heating region on earth, with temperatures rising at twice the global average rate. Rapid temperature increases make it more likely that sudden “tipping points” in the climate system will be reached, whereby dramatic shifts in key earth systems occur. The window to prevent irreversible harm is narrowing.

This is the world in which the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health is today publishing its Call to Action. The Commission – chaired by former Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and convened by WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge – brings together 13 former heads of government, international bodies, ministers and civil society leaders from across the 53-country WHO European Region. Its message to governments is direct: climate change is not a future threat to be managed. It is an immediate and growing crisis affecting health, food, water, energy and national security simultaneously; and the current response is not matching its scale.