The two largest multilateral climate and health funds, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) and the Green Climate Fund, announced their intention today at the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai to tackle together the impact of climate change on the health of the most vulnerable communities around the world.

“While the threat of the climate crisis is universal, the speed and severity of the impacts are not,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Those who did the least to cause this emergency are suffering the most, as climate threats push already inequitable health systems past the breaking point. Together with the Green Climate Fund, the Global Fund is committed to addressing the human health impacts of climate change, particularly on malaria and systems for health.”

Estimates indicate that only 0.5% of multilateral climate funding is allocated to projects that explicitly address human health, and just 5% of climate adaptation funding is committed to health projects. In partnership with the COP28 presidency, the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Health Organization, the Global Fund and the Green Climate Fund have developed and published the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions, establishing, for the first time, a shared vision for financing climate and health solutions, which can adapt health systems to protect people from climate risks to health and build resilient, environmentally sustainable health systems. A range of major organizations and networks have endorsed these principles.

Mafalda Duarte, GCF Executive Director said: “I’m thrilled the Green Climate Fund and Global Fund—the two largest multilateral funds for climate and health, respectively—are forging this first-of-its-kind partnership. Many of today’s health emergencies are a consequence of climate inaction. But through collaboration, the climate and health communities can raise awareness of the health costs of unambitious climate action, and prepare health systems to respond to impacts that are already locked in.

The partnership will look to increase funding at the intersection of climate and health by aligning funding, supporting countries to assess needs and access financing, and building evidence of effective interventions.

About the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

The Global Fund is a worldwide partnership to defeat HIV, TB and malaria and ensure a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all. We raise and invest more than US$5 billion a year to fight the deadliest infectious diseases, challenge the injustice that fuels them, and strengthen health systems and pandemic preparedness in more than 100 of the hardest hit countries. We unite world leaders, communities, civil society, health workers and the private sector to find solutions that have the most impact, and we take them to scale worldwide. Since 2002, the Global Fund partnership has saved 59 million lives.

About the Green Climate Fund 

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated climate fund. GCF’s mandate is to foster a paradigm shift towards low emission, climate-resilient development pathways in developing countries. GCF has a portfolio of USD 13.5 billion (USD 51.8 billion including co-financing) delivering transformative climate action in more than 120 countries.

It also has a readiness support programme that builds capacity and helps countries develop long-term plans to fight climate change. GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves the 2015 Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2°C.