WHO - 154th Session of the Executive Board Item 22 – Climate change, pollution and health - EU Statement
WHO
154th Session of the Executive Board
Item 22 – Climate change, pollution and health
EU Statement
Chair, Director-General, Excellencies, Colleagues,
This statement is made on behalf of the EU and its member states.
The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova[1] and Georgia align themselves with this statement.
Climate change is the greatest global health threats of this century. The “triple planetary crisis” impacts all of nature, including animal and human’s health.
The EU commends WHO for its efforts to integrate climate change and health perspectives and transformative actions, based on the whole-of-government, whole-of-society and One Health approaches. A “climate in all policies” approach is needed, along with the “health in all policies” principle, to promote co-benefits such as sustainable and healthy food systems, active mobility or green energies. We call to further recognize (1) the synergies between climate change, health and nutrition, and social equity; and (2) the benefits of climate change actions on health and nutrition.
In this regard, we acknowledge the unique role of WHO, its regional offices and the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), in leading, informing, guiding and implementing the health response to climate change. We encourage WHO to further develop and scale up the application of existing climate change and health work across its core functions, by (1) gathering evidence and convening recommendations, as with OHHLEP, including by monitoring the epidemiological changes, and (2) providing policy and technical support to national ministries and (3) encouraging Members States to join ATACH, which first global meeting will be held in Madrid next March. We also call for further collaboration with the UN system and other partners at the subnational, national, regional and multilateral levels to foster more integrated actions and policies through the One Health approach, building on the work of the Quadripartite (WHO, WOAH, FAO, UNEP). We welcome the report on Climate change and health and the resolution proposed by the Netherlands and Peru and support the creation of a global plan of action that will help firmly integrate a thorough climate perspective across the work of WHO. We also recall the ambitious Budapest Declaration which, along with the new Environment and Health Partnerships, aims to support member states and stakeholders to mitigate the adverse health effects of the triple crises within a more comprehensive and cooperative approach.
The EU thanks the Secretariat for its report on the impact of chemicals, waste and pollution on human health: we especially welcome the steps outlined for WHO’s role in the science-policy panel and hope that the Secretariat will elaborate on its capacity and interest to potentially hosting / co-hosting the panel. We also call for stronger WHO and its Member States’ involvement in the proposed Intergovernmental science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and prevention of pollution as well as in the ongoing negotiations to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
Finally, we congratulate WHO and the COP28 presidency for hosting the first ever health day and health ministerial, and its associated declaration, which testified the need for collective awareness. We advocate to continue to dedicate high-level attention to climate and health within the multilateral scene to ensure sustained and concrete political visibility. It is urgent to take stronger international action through collective mobilization, policies and investments through the implementation of all the pillars of the Paris Agreement by (1) improving the sustainability of health systems and reducing their carbon footprint, (2) committing to health promotion and disease prevention, and (3) protecting the most vulnerable as women and girls who are disproportionately affected by the climate disruption’s impact.
I thank you.
[1] North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.