COP30 and the Health Equation: India’s Moment to Lead

As countries meet in Belém, Brazil, for COP30 this November, public health is becoming entrenched as a core part of the climate change agenda. The Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) – set to be launched on the COP Health Day, observed on November 13, since COP28 in Dubai – translates the global commitment to protect lives and strengthen health systems into an operational roadmap.

The promise of the “implementation COP,” however, faces headwinds from the ongoing flux in the global development architecture that is acutely visible through its impacts on global health.

For India, this moment holds both urgency and opportunity. The air quality indices in its capital city are flashing red. Rising cases of dengue and malaria in new regions further illustrate the unfolding and critical health impacts of climate change. Floods, droughts, and heatwaves continue to strain health systems and widen inequalities. Yet, India also brings significant strengths to this challenge — a vast network of primary health centres, growing experience in digital health and disaster response, and an increasingly strong voice in global climate diplomacy.

COP30 offers a chance to integrate these strengths and make health a central pillar of climate action, while also advancing India’s domestic agenda to build a more resilient, equitable health system.

COP30 offers a chance to integrate these strengths and make health a central pillar of climate action, while also advancing India’s domestic agenda to build a more resilient, equitable health system.

The following priorities outline what India can both champion on the global stage at COP30 and pursue through domestic action, ensuring that international commitments translate into tangible resilience and healthier lives at home.

1. Embed Health in Climate Governance

A stronger governance framework is essential to link health and climate action. India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) mention adaptation and resilience, but public health remains largely muted — a gap that must be addressed through systematic integration and measurable targets.

At COP30, India should commit to mainstreaming health indicators into its updated NDC, linking mitigation and adaptation to outcomes such as reduced disease burden, improved air quality, and lower mortality from heat and pollution.

The National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH), already operational across states, could form the foundation for a National Climate and Health Mission, connecting the Ministries of Health, Environment, and Finance under a unified framework. However, the programme’s current capacity remains limited. Scaling it up will require greater financial and technical resources to strengthen surveillance, workforce training, and implementation at the state and district levels. This would turn India’s fragmented climate–health efforts into a cohesive national strategy with measurable targets and dedicated resources.

On the sidelines of COP30, India could propose the creation of a South Asia Climate and Health Alliance, linking ministries of health, environment, and science agencies across the region. 

2. Build Climate-Resilient Health Systems

At COP30, India has the opportunity to advance an agenda for resilient and sustainable health systems, moving the climate–health conversation beyond mitigation to include adaptation and resilience as core priorities.

This means not only reducing emissions but also preparing the health sector to withstand and recover from climate shocks. India can lead by rapidly expanding green and climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure, including energy-efficient hospitals, solar-powered primary health centres, and climate-safe cold chains. At the same time, investments must strengthen adaptive capacity across the system, which means improving early warning mechanisms, expanding surveillance for climate-sensitive diseases, protecting vulnerable populations, and training a surge-ready health workforce. India’s emerging investments in digital health information systems and AI-based climate vulnerability mapping, such as urban heat mapping in Delhi for example, could be scaled up to develop early warning systems for vector-borne and heat-related illnesses.

3. Secure Climate Finance for Health

Health remains one of the most underfunded areas in global climate action – less than 1% of climate finance currently supports health adaptation. India could propose a dedicated stream within the Loss and Damage Fund to support health recovery and resilience, ensuring predictable, non-debt-creating finance for countries facing climate-induced health crises.

Domestically, India can pioneer blended financing models that combine public health budgets, private investment, and international climate funds to green its health sector. Such efforts would reflect the Financing for Development principles and the spirit of the BHAP, which calls for equitable, cross-sectoral approaches to health and climate finance.

Ensuring that adaptation financing reaches these vulnerable groups first would make India’s climate–health strategy not only resilient but also just.

4. Lead Regional Collaboration on Climate and Health

South Asia shares a common vulnerability to climate-linked health crises from cyclones and floods to heatwaves and disease outbreaks. On the sidelines of COP30, India could propose the creation of a South Asia Climate and Health Alliance, linking ministries of health, environment, and science agencies across the region. The platform could harmonise surveillance data, coordinate regional responses, and amplify South Asia’s collective voice in global forums.

This approach would echo India’s leadership in vaccine production and pandemic preparedness but extend it into the broader domain of climate adaptation and resilience. Building on India’s experience with the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, it would position health as a new pillar of regional climate cooperation and showcase India’s South–South leadership.

For India, aligning domestic policy with global health–climate goals will do more than improve public health — it will redefine what climate leadership means in an age of intersecting crises.

5. Anchor Climate Action in Health Equity

The health impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed. Women, migrant workers, informal labourers, and tribal communities bear the greatest burden of heat stress, pollution, and disease. India can lead by embedding equity and justice within its climate–health agenda, which is also a theme central to the BHAP.

This requires a shift from top-down planning to inclusive governance. As district-level Climate and Health Action Plans are already proposed under the NPCCHH, they must evolve to dynamically integrate equity, gender, and intersectional vulnerability assessments into their design and monitoring.

Equally important is institutionalising community participation so that traditional knowledge, local lived experience, and civil society voices inform decisions at every level. Ensuring that adaptation financing reaches these vulnerable groups first would make India’s climate–health strategy not only resilient but also just.

A Defining Test of Leadership

At COP30, the conversation must shift from tonnes of carbon to lives protected. For India, aligning domestic policy with global health–climate goals will do more than improve public health — it will redefine what climate leadership means in an age of intersecting crises.

The path to climate justice runs through the health of people. COP30 is India’s chance to show that the fight for the planet and the fight for public health are, ultimately, one and the same.