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Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions

Transforming the systems that shape climate and health together.

About the Program

Climate change is not just an environmental crisis—it is a profound and escalating threat to human health. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and shifting disease patterns are straining health systems and disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable populations. Despite these urgent risks, health remains largely overlooked in climate policies and investments.

The NAM is leading the Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions (the Roadmap), a global initiative to place health at the center of climate action. By convening cross-sector leaders and leveraging evidence-based solutions, the Roadmap aims to drive transformative systems change that simultaneously reduces emissions, enhances climate resilience, and strengthens the foundations of human health and well-being.

Why Climate Action Must Anchor Health

A thriving society and economy depend on the health of its people, yet climate change is destabilizing the very systems that sustain human well-being. Rising air pollution, extreme heat, and disruptions to food and water security are not just environmental crises—they are direct threats to economic stability, workforce productivity, and community resilience. Too often, climate strategies operate in silos, missing the opportunity to integrate health into the decisions that shape our built environment, industries, and policies. Embedding health at the core of climate action delivers immediate, tangible benefits—cleaner air, safer communities, and stronger economies—while driving solutions that are more effective, sustainable, and scalable.

The Roadmap aims to advance a bold, systems-level approach to bridging these silos and aligning climate action with health-driven outcomes. By positioning health as both a driver and a measure of success, it provides a unifying framework for decision-makers across sectors. This integrated approach not only reduces emissions but also lowers costs, strengthens workforce productivity, and improves quality of life. Prioritizing health in climate action accelerates innovation, mobilizes investment, and ensures solutions that build a healthier, more resilient future for all.

Call for Information

The Commission invites leaders and stakeholders across public and private sectors, civil society, and multilateral institutions—at both national and subnational levels—to submit concise, high-impact insights and materials.

These submissions will inform the Commission’s development of the Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions.

We are particularly seeking:

Emerging evidence (e.g., research findings, data analyses) that illuminate the links between climate action and health.
Case studies of success demonstrating proven or promising approaches, policies, or technologies that advances health and climate action.
Priority research questions identifying crucial knowledge gaps for future exploration.
Best practices and practical learnings on effectively aligning economic, environmental, and health objectives.
Initiatives or entities (coalitions, multilateral institutions, organizations, etc.) working to address climate change 1) by adopting a systems change approach or 2) while considering health impacts of strategies, interventions, policies, etc

Roadmap Leadership

President, National Academy of Medicine; Chair, NAM Council

Victor J. Dzau, MD, is the President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In addition, he serves as Vice Chair of the National Research Council. Dr. Dzau is Chancellor Emeritus and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Duke University and the past President and CEO of the Duke University Health System. Previously, Dr. Dzau was the Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine and Chairman of Medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Bloomfield Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.

Dr. Dzau is an internationally acclaimed physician scientist and leader whose work has improved health and medicine in the United States and globally. His seminal work in cardiovascular medicine and genetics laid the foundation for the development of the class of lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors, used globally to treat hypertension and heart failure. Dr. Dzau pioneered gene therapy for vascular disease and was the first to introduce DNA decoy molecules in humans in vivo. His pioneering research in cardiac regeneration led to the Paracrine Hypothesis of stem cell action and his recent strategy of direct cardiac reprogramming using microRNA. He maintains an active NIH-funded research laboratory.

Dr. Dzau is a leader in health and heath policy. At the NAM, he has led important initiatives such as Vital Directions for Health and Health Care, the Action Collaborative on Countering the US Opioid Epidemic, and the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. Under his tenure, the NAM has advanced efforts to improve health equity and address racism throughout its programmatic activities, especially the Culture of Health Program. Most recently, the NAM launched a Grand Challenge in Climate Change and Human Health & Equity to reverse the negative effects of climate change on health and social equity by activating the entire biomedical community, communicating and educating the public about climate change and health, driving changes through research, innovation and policy, and leading bold action to decarbonize the health care sector.

As a global health leader, he helped design and launch the National Academies initiatives on Global Health Risk Framework; Global Health and Future Role of the US; Crossing the Global Quality Chasm and Human Genome Editing. The NAM Global Grand Challenge for Healthy Longevity represents his vision to inspire across disciplines and sectors to coalesce around a shared priority and audacious goal to advance health.

He has led the NAM’s response to COVID-19, which includes numerous committees, reports, consultations and communication on a range of issues including public health, vaccine allocation, health equity and mental health. He has worked tirelessly to engage with the global response to COVD-19 by providing leadership as a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, co-chair of the G20 Scientific Expert Panel on Global Health Security, Advisor to the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing and a principal of the ACT-Accelerator which includes COVAX, the global collaboration for accelerating the development, manufacture and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

He is active in advising science and health in US and globally. He has served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chaired the NIH Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee and NHLBI Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium. Currently, he chairs the Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium. He is a member of the Health and Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council of Singapore, as well as a board member of the Imperial College Health Partners, UK and the Gairdner Foundation. He chairs the International Scientific Advisory Committee of the Qatar Precision Medicine Institute, the Scientific Boards of the Peter Munk Cardiac Center, University of Toronto and Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow. He served on the Board of Health Governors of the World Economic Forum and chairs its Global Futures Council on Healthy Longevity.

Among his many honors and recognitions are the Max Delbreck Medal from Charite, Humboldt and Max Planck, Germany, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Henry Freisen International Prize. In 2019, he was named an Honorary Citizen of Singapore- the highest level of honor bestowed to a foreign citizen conferred by the President of Singapore. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, UK Academy of Medical Sciences, the Japan Academy, Mexican Academy of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica. He has received 16 honorary doctorates.