Deadly heat prompts $300M for climate health research

With more than a half a million people worldwide dying from heat-related causes every year, a group of philanthropists is putting $300 million into developing life-saving solutions as global temperatures continue to rise.

The money, announced this week during the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in the northern Brazilian city of Belém, is aimed at developing data and figuring out the best investments for tackling rising risks from extreme heat, air pollution, and infectious disease.

We are a philanthropy. We can't just keep plugging holes and resuscitating a dying model of development, said Estelle Willie, the director of health policy and communications at the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the funders. So what we are trying to do is through our philanthropy capital, we can start testing and validating new solutions through this work and coming together.

Separately, Brazil launched an initiative called the Belém Health Action Plan to encourage countries to monitor and coordinate climate-related health policy across their various ministries and departments.

That effort is part of the South American country's broader focus at the UN climate talks on bolstering countries' ability to prepare for—and adapt to—worsening climate impacts, including floods, fires, drought, storms, and hurricanes.

The newly pledged $300 million adds to the $1 billion–$2 billion being spent in public money toward researching climate-related health impacts, according to a 2023 study in the PLOS journal.

Experts say far more is still needed.

Progress on health is declining, Willie said in an interview with Reuters. We've had hard-fought wins in health through technology, through the global health system. But climate change is literally making every single problem and global health worse right now.

An October report in The Lancet scientific journal estimates the annual number of deaths from heat-related causes worsened by climate change at nearly 550,000.

Another 150,000 deaths a year can be linked to air pollution, often from the burning of fossil fuels, but also from worsening wildfires, the report said, while some infectious diseases are also rising. Reported cases of dengue fever are also up 49 percent since the 1950s, it added.

UN agencies in August estimated that about half the world's population, or more than 3.3 billion people, are already struggling with the rising heat.

The warnings from scientists on climate change have become reality. And it is clear that not all people are affected equally, said John-Arne Røttingen, chief executive officer of the Wellcome Trust, another funder.

The most vulnerable are children, pregnant women, older people, and outdoor workers, along with those communities with the least resources to respond, he added.

Other funders in the newly announced Climate and Health Funders Coalition include the Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the IKEA Foundation. Another 27 philanthropies have signed on, but are yet to commit funds.

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