International Climate Councils Network and Wellcome Partnership

Twenty-five expert government advisory bodies across the globe are joining forces to ensure that climate policy protects human health. These climate councils—officially mandated groups that advise national governments on evidence-based climate action—currently operate in isolation, with limited capacity to share knowledge or coordinate on health-related climate impacts. The International Climate Councils Network (ICCN) is requesting £300,000 over 12 months to build a formal network that connects these councils, strengthens their partnerships with institutions like Wellcome, and raises awareness of the links between climate change and health. The problem is straightforward: climate change already harms health through heatwaves, infectious disease spread, and air pollution, yet health considerations are often absent from national climate plans. If this network succeeds, climate councils in regions most vulnerable to health impacts—such as South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa—will gain direct access to shared expertise, scientific evidence, and coordinated advocacy. The practical change would be invisible to most citizens but felt in government planning: climate policies that explicitly account for hospital capacity, disease surveillance, and heat-related mortality. This is applied work, not fundamental science—it aims to make existing climate governance more effective at protecting health.