28th UN Climate Change Conference, 23 October 2023
COP28 Declaration on Climate & Health
We, on the occasion of the first Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), express our grave concern about the negative impacts of climate change on health. We stress the importance of addressing the interactions between climate change and human health and wellbeing in the context of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, as the primary international, intergovernmental fora for the global response to climate change.
We recognize the urgency of taking action on climate change, and note the benefits for health from deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including from just transitions, lower air pollution, active mobility, and shifts to sustainable healthy diets.
In this year of the first Global Stocktake, and given the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, which strained all health systems and further widened inequities and vulnerabilities within and among countries, regions and populations, we are committed to the advancement of climate-resilient development, the strengthening of health systems, and the building of resilient and thriving communities, for the benefit of present and future generations.