As COP28 closes today in Dubai, the health community commended agreements in the outcome text of COP28 that some countries noted as signalling the end of the fossil fuel era.
They denounced the summit’s failure to commit to a full phase-out of fossil fuels, a critically urgent step towards protecting people’s health.
The health communities also criticised the failure to commit to strong targets for adaptation to build resilient systems capable of protecting vulnerable people.
Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance Jeni Miller said signals alone are not enough but real action to phase out fossil fuels to protect people’s health.
“While progress was made by COP28, the failure to find consensus on a full and fair phase-out of fossil fuels is deeply problematic when people’s health and lives hang in the balance," she said.
Director Tree Adoption Uganda Charles Batte said leaders dragged their feet and in so doing, left our climate-vulnerable communities behind.
“We had a great opportunity here to protect human health with strong decisions on phasing out drivers of climate change, setting ambitious, time-bound targets and streamlining means of support for adaptation. Leaving without these will only prolong suffering, loss of lives, and destruction to health care systems," Batte said.
Signals of the end of the fossil fuel era were nevertheless welcomed, as a pointer in the right direction.
Health organizations also noted the events and activities at COP28 that elevated a focus on people’s health for the first time, including the Climate and Health Declaration.
The declaration received sign on by 142 countries, the first ever official Health Day and an InterMinisterial meeting on climate and health.
It brought nearly 50 Ministers of Health and 110 high-level health ministerial staff to COP for the first time.
With more than 1,900 delegates from the health sector attending COP this year, the effort to ensure that climate decisions are made with people’s lives and well-being at their heart gained momentum.
Vice chair, of Global Climate and Health Alliance Courtney Howard said health is the human face of climate change.
He therefore said it has become clear that fossil fuel phase-out is the most important treatment for the health emergency of climate change.
"The outcome of COP28 while not the transformational text we would have liked to see, does nevertheless indicate a turning point, calling as it does for a tripling of renewable energy capacity, and a transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems," Howard said.
