NAM Countdown to Climate Week
Background
While there has been extraordinary effort for years in the climate and health field, this momentum greatly accelerated since the first ever “Health Day” at COP28. Following this, the National Academy of Medicine, with Kaiser Permanente and Climate Group, co-hosted the first ever U.S. focused Climate and Health Day, during which Climate Group announced that this year’s Climate Week NYC would feature its first ever focus on climate and health.
Leading into this historic week, the NAM Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, and Equity hosted a Countdown to Climate Week virtual convening on September 12, 2024. This closed-door roundtable featured those hosting climate and health sessions during Climate Week. Participants shared desired outcomes for their sessions and the week, aligned on consistent communication regarding the importance and urgency of climate and health, and developed shared strategies for how to leverage the week’s events to further the future work of climate and health. The NAM hopes the following event highlights help all to capitalize on the opportunities of Climate Week, including to continue to signal and drive that climate and health belongs atop the world’s agenda.
Highlighted Health-Focused Events at Climate Week 2024
Highlighted Health-Focused Events at Climate Week 2024
Su, 9/22
M, 9/23
Tu, 9/24
W, 9/25
Th, 9/26
The Importance of Maintaining Climate and Health Momentum
Climate and health has seen tremendous momentum built from one convening to the next. The opening panel explored how we can continue, and even accelerate, this trend as our community strives to ensure that our convenings continue to hold challenging conversations, highlight the most innovative work of our community and members, and ensure that we are moving in an incremental manner from one convening to the next.
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We have a number of events really centered on optimism. Our work in the world is to Radically Listen to rainforest communities, invest in the solutions they design, which tend to focus on well-being and planetary health. One health is typically at the center of these solutions. The solutions that communities are designing are boundless in their impact at scale. We research and publish this data. We’re not only hearing these stories of impact, but we’re also hopefully learning – through their wisdom, science, and practice that can really help inform planetary health.
Ashley Emerson (Health In Harmony)
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Addressing the climate crisis and mental health crisis can be achieved by helping young people develop skills associated with resilience, awareness, compassion, and systems thinking.We hope to reach young people to develop the inner tools that sustain well-being, enhance social networks, and bring coping strategies to the forefront of climate action conversations. In the next era of climate action, there will be a tremendous push to have youth stakeholders advance to leadership roles. We want to support the work of “asset building” for youth leaders.
Blossom Pidduck (Six Seconds)
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As daunting as the climate crisis may be, there are actions we can take right now to protect the health of their communities. At New York Climate Week, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Health Team, alongside our grantees and partners, will showcase new data, case studies, and a pathway for action to save lives now and protect our future.
Estelle Willie (The Rockefeller Foundation)
The Role of the Health Care System
While health care systems shoulder the burden of a changing climate as well as simultaneously caring for individuals affected by climate change, it must adapt to offer this care in a way that is more sustainable for all. The discussants from this topic shared how their Climate Week sessions and events will approach the roles the health system needs to take on, provide examples of health system climate readiness innovation, speak to the need for industry, and more.
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We hope that attendees will better understand how relevant partners across sectors and industries are mobilizing action through the development of tools, and how we can better work together to achieve real impact. A key area of our work focuses on enabling non-health-care sectors and industries to take more ownership of the climate and health agenda. We envision a future where climate-health partnerships are more robust and based on evidence-based tools and strategies, with collaboration across sectors to promote health co-benefits becoming the norm.
Annika Green (World Economic Forum)
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We will bring together business and health sector leaders to present the latest research and practice findings around low carbon, resilient health care delivery. We will explore building sustainable systems through actionable and scalable solutions, as well as concrete steps to support health care transformation. This will be an annual occurrence, with conferences building on and showcasing best practice examples and issues. We’re excited to dive into the novel and timely issue of health insurance and climate change impact.
Ann Kurth (New York Academy of Medicine)
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Our overall strategic objective is to generate the health evidence for policy action that protects health from climate change on the road to COP29 and beyond. We are particularly excited about the potential to increase investment on climate and health and to promote more holistic ways of working within the funder community. We hope to see a thriving climate and health field, with evidence on climate and health driving ambitious 1.5 degrees Celsius aligned action on climate action that promotes health equity.
Anna Lee (Wellcome Trust)
What Is Next After Climate Week
While there is so much preparation and attention rightly focused on the immense amount of great work that will be happening in New York in September, there is always value in keeping the longer timeline in mind. Bookending with the opening panel, national climate and health experts shared their perspective on the important next steps for our community following Climate Week, the importance of continuing collaboration, what some of our key communication should be, keeping environmental justice at the forefront of climate and health, and more.
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The bottom line: Ending climate pollution is a new beginning for health. The health community—and the American public—supports taking the necessary actions. Our team is identifying opportunities to advance ambitious national policies at the nexus of climate and health, and building public and political will for decarbonization. Our vision is making health central to the climate conversation and climate policy. We are redoubling our efforts to encourage and help all interested players in the health community to speak with unified, effective voices to deliver the messages above.
Ed Maibach (George Mason University)
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While it’s necessary to remind about the overwhelming health risks of climate change, I think MORE important is to demonstrate the enormous health opportunities that will result from a decarbonized economy. Adding the health lens to the climate change discourse creates more common ground for decision-makers to recognize what’s at stake and to act more quickly. And realizing that climate solutions can double as positive health interventions, climate actions should be viewed as opportunities and not sacrifices. Ultimately, it is possible to have economic development that reinforces sustainable human health and protects natural resources for future generations.
Jonathan Patz (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
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We are excited about amplifying the Sustainability Journey Map and providing training for suppliers to make and meet their own science-based targets. We envision a world where we openly share innovations in climate reductions across value chains, where sustainability is not seen as a competitive advantage but as a pre-competitive collaborative space, and one where all companies more accurately and effectively demonstrate the positive change to not only their emissions and environment but their business as a whole.
Robert ter Kuile (McKesson)
Disclaimer: Statements in this product do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of the Action Collaborative; the NAM; or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). This product is intended to help inform and stimulate discussion. It is not a report of the NAM or the NASEM. Copyright by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Tweet this! .@theNAMedicine Countdown to Climate Week event discussed consistently communicating the importance and urgency of climate and health. See new resource to help you capitalize on opportunities during #ClimateWeekNYC and beyond: https://nam.edu/programs/climate-change-and-human-health/climate-week-countdown-2024 #ClimateActionforHealth
