The Climate and Health Co-benefits Challenge

The climate crisis is a health crisis. Yet health is still largely absent from climate finance and policy decisions.

Reducing air pollution through clean energy, enabling active mobility through urban design, improving diets through sustainable food systems, and strengthening climate-resilient infrastructure can generate simultaneous gains for health, climate mitigation and economic resilience.

However, these health co-benefits remain under-recognized in climate policy and investment decisions, limiting their potential to accelerate climate action.

The Belém Health Action Plan calls for systemic change. What is needed now is concrete evidence of what works: real-world examples of cross-sector climate action that delivers for both the planet and our communities.

Person lifting a solar panel to another person on a building roof under a partly cloudy sky.

© WHO / Tom Vierus
Community members from Yaqeta village assist staff from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in installing a solar-powered vaccine freezer at Yaqeta Nursing Station in Fiji.

© WHO Viet Nam
Regional Director Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala and WHO colleagues with the Ministry of Health look at a water facility that helps ensure a reliable supply of clean water in a climate-resilient health care facility in Viet Nam.

© WHO / Bart Verweij
The agricultural market near Houn District Hospital in Lao PDR provides access to fresh local produce for patients, staff and the community, aligning with the goals of the Safe, Clean, Green and Climate-Resilient Hospital initiative.

The Climate and Health Co-Benefits Challenge aims to showcase flagship examples of climate investments in non-health-specific sectors that are generating real health gains. These include clean energy transitions, sustainable transport systems, climate-resilient urban design, food system transformation, water and sanitation improvements, and other climate and health co-benefits good practices.

Led by the World Health Organization (WHO) Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region (ACE), in collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation and the Pathfinder Initiative, the Challenge will:

Showcase intersectoral policies and strategies that maximize health and climate co-benefits
Promote evidence-based policy implementation and investment decisions based on co-benefits
Position health as a compelling narrative for climate ambition
Strengthen cross-sector policy dialogue relating to the health co-benefits of climate action

WHO will launch an open call at the seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in May 2026 for climate and health co-benefits case studies. Member States, academic institutions, funders and partners are invited to submit concrete country examples demonstrating cross-sector climate action with measurable health outcomes. A curated case-study portfolio for the Western Pacific Region will be featured on this page.

Case study submissions will open on 18 May and will run until 31 August 2026.

Submit your case study