Thank you, Diarmid.
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
I thank Türkiye for hosting this roundtable, and Azerbaijan for establishing the Baku COP Presidencies Coalition for Climate and Health.
Each COP Presidency lasts one year. The health impacts of climate change will last for generations.
That is the reason for this Coalition.
Over five COPs, successive Presidencies have built something real.
The United Kingdom secured the first commitments to climate-resilient, low-carbon health systems, which gave rise to the WHO Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health, or ATACH.
Egypt linked climate and nutrition.
The United Arab Emirates held the first Health Day.
Azerbaijan created this Coalition.
Brazil delivered the Belém Health Action Plan.
And today, Türkiye launched the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience.
The risk now is not a lack of ambition. It is fragmentation: each Presidency launching something new, while earlier commitments go unfunded and unreported.
This Coalition can prevent that, by carrying political leadership from one COP to the next.
For COP31 and the road to COP32, I see three priorities for the Coalition.
First, coherence.
ATACH, the Belém Health Action Plan and the Antalya Initiative should work as one system: for making commitments, implementing them and reporting on progress.
Second, continuity.
Health cannot only be on the agenda during COPs.
A clear workplan, with cooperation between COPs and regular review of progress, would ensure that each Presidency hands over a stronger agenda than it inherited.
Third, influence.
Presidencies have a voice that health ministers alone do not.
Use it to put health in the negotiated text, to make health an explicit priority for climate finance, and to bring ministers of finance and energy to the table.
WHO welcomes the prospect of the COP31 Presidency joining the Coalition, and we look forward to working with Ethiopia towards COP32.
WHO is proud to be the Coalition’s partner, and we stand ready to support you at every step.
Thank you.