Linking Climate Change and Health for Enhanced Policy Action

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human health, yet concerns about the health costs of continued warming and benefits to health of action are still not significantly driving urgency for climate action or informing decisions about the safest mitigation and adaptation approaches. This represents a significant gap for strategic communications. We want to establish an understanding that the world is entering a new era of health, where risks will intensify if emissions continue and if effective adaptation measures are not taken. We propose an international initiative using the links between climate change and health to create a narrative about the urgency of action, which will motivate policymakers to increase their commitments to climate action. We will design and implement a strategic communications plan that prioritises key countries and audiences; strengthens and expands partnerships; and draws on audience insights to understand and communicate which evidence and messages are most effective for the audiences. We will integrate measurement to evaluate our impact and we will identify where future resources can have the greatest influence. In parallel, we will establish a new strategic communications regranter to strengthen the global climate movement’s strategic communications and public engagement capacity.