Global Climate & Health Summits and Conferences 

Global Conference on Health and Climate Change, Glasgow, 6 November 2021

This conference took place in parallel with the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference with a special focus on Climate Justice and the Healthy and Green Recovery from COVID-19. The conference called on governments, businesses, institutions and financial actors to drive a green, healthy and resilient recovery from COVID-19 as well as highlighting countries’ ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that promote and protect health. Speakers at the Conference included Ms Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders; Ms Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia and Chair of Wellcome Trust; and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. See the conference agenda here.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Glasgow Caledonian University and its Centre for Climate Justice, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Wellcome Trust.

Global Climate and Health Summit, Madrid, 7 December 2019

This Summit took place in parallel with the COP25 UN Climate Change Conference and  served as a central moment for health civil society and other stakeholders to help drive global action to protect health from a changing climate. See the Summit agenda here.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Faculty of Medicine at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid; the University of California-San Fracisco’s Institute for Global Health Sciences, Global Health Group; Harvard University’s Global Health Institute; and the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare.

Chilean National Workshop of the Global Climate and Health Summit: A parallel event took place in Santiago, Chile on December 6th, convened by Colegio Médico, the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS), the Epidemiological Society of Chile, the School of Public Health at the University of Chile, and the Sustainable Chile program, in collaboration with the WHO and the GCHA. The workshop led a nationally focused discussion of the themes jointly developed by Chilean and international partners for the Global Summit. Outcomes of the National Workshop were presented via video at the Global Summit in Madrid the following day.

Global Climate and Health Summit, Katowice, 8 September 2018

This Summit took place in parallel with the COP24 UN Climate Change Conference as part of a Day of Climate and Health, hosted at the University of Silesia. The Summit furthered the Call to Action on Climate and Health, launched during September’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco; and featured an in-depth discussion of the COP24 Special Report on Health and Climate Change, delivered by the World Health Organization to the UNFCCC at COP24.

At the Summit the World Health Organization Director-General also announced the formation of a WHO-civil society working group on climate change and health. See the WHO Director-General’s video statement.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Committee of the Regions, and the Pro Silesia Association. 

Global Climate and Health Forum, San Francisco, 12 September 2018

The Global Climate and Health Forum took place alongside the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco and brought together 300 leaders from national and local governments, health systems, public health agencies, civil society, and international health organisations to build the community of climate and health professionals, share global success stories of health action for climate, and generate momentum and commitments for action on climate and health. The Forum culminated in the launch of a Call to Action on Climate and Health which was endorsed by over 70 leading health organisations representing 5 million health professionals and 17,000 hospitals and health systems. Watch a video of the event here.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the the Global Health Group at UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences, Health Care Without Harm, and the US Climate and Health Alliance.

Climate and Health Summit, Bonn, 11 November 2017

This Summit took place in parallel with the COP23 UN Climate Change Conference and focused on action in cities and regions to advance action on climate change and health and build momentum for increased ambition in climate commitments. Participants explored the role of the health sector in strengthening health systems, advocating for policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to decarbonize energy systems, and in providing the research that will track progress on climate change and health.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Health and Environment Alliance, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and its European Center for Environment and Health in Bonn, Germany, and with the Health and Environment Alliance.

Climate and Health Summit, Paris, 5 December 2015

This Summit took place in parallel with the COP21 UN Climate Change Conference with the theme ‘Engaging with Health in a Post-2015 World’. It  brought together health professionals, policymakers, negotiators, academics and other members of the international community to answer the question, “How can public health change the conversation on climate change in a post-2015 world?”

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Société Française de Santé et Environnement, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit , funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and our local implementing partner the Health and Environment Alliance.

Climate and Health Summit, Lima, 6 December 2014

This Summit took place in parallel with the COP20 UN Climate Change Conference. It showcased climate and health success stories and discussed how best to mobilise the international health sphere in the run-up to COP21 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the upcoming 2015 UN General Assembly. Speakers at the Summit included Rachel Kyte, vice president of the World Bank Group, Anibal Velasquez Valdivia, Minister of Health for Peru and Daniele Violetti, UNFCCC Chief of Staff.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the School of Public Health and Administration at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia;  the Pan-American Health Association (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Climate and Health Summit, Warsaw, 16 November 2013

This summit took place in parallel with the COP19 UN Climate Change Conference. It coordinated cross-sectoral action to protect human health from the impacts of the climate crisis and resulted in the development of a roadmap for the international health community to work towards in the run up to the seminal 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO)

Climate and Health Summit, Durban, 2011

The first annual Global Climate and Health Summit was the occasion of the founding of GCHA.

Summit Organisers: GCHA in collaboration with Health Care Without Harm and the Climate and Health Council.