Introduction by Croakey: Critical health concerns barely rate a mention in an introductory letter to participants in upcoming global climate negotiations, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – more succinctly known as COP29.
However, researchers have suggested a systematic approach for embedding planetary health equity considerations at COP29, with a focus on food systems transformation that would simultaneously address climate change, social equity, and public health crises.
The researchers are Fellows of the Planetary Health Equity (PHE) Hothouse’s 2024 Future Leaders Program, which recently took place at the ANU in Canberra, and seeks to “create new opportunities for knowledge mobilisation that aims to improve planetary health equity”.
Their article below is part of a wide-ranging series for Croakey readers by the Program’s Fellows for Croakey readers.
Meelan Thondoo, Cynthia Couette and Roxana Claudia Tompea write:
This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP29) takes place in November in Baku, Azerbaijan under the theme ‘In Solidarity for a Green World’. The event is expected to be a critical moment to drive progress on the Paris Agreement and global climate action.
It will address several critical climate issues, including climate finance, the transition away from fossil fuels, loss and damage, and efforts to boost renewable energy usage.
Participants will include heads of state, business leaders, youth activists, climate scientists, and civil society representatives.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an annual international summit where world leaders negotiate climate action.
With 198 Parties (197 countries plus the European Union), COPs serve as platforms for discussing strategies for reducing emissions, addressing climate impacts, and setting targets for global climate goals.
COPs are essential for shaping global climate policies and ensuring that nations are held accountable for their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Since the first COP in 1995, these conferences have been a key venue for international climate negotiations. COP21 in 2015 was pivotal, leading to the Paris Agreement, which set the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
At COP29, discussions will centre on advancing these efforts, focusing on loss and damage, climate finance, energy transition, and closing the global emissions gap.
Key priorities for COP29 include operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund, which will support vulnerable communities, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Additionally, the enhancement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is central, as countries are encouraged to submit stronger NDCs by 2025 to meet the 1.5°C target.
Other major agendas include scaling up climate finance for green innovation and mitigation, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and ensuring National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are in place by 2025.
Azerbaijan, the host country, is committed to transitioning to renewable energy, with a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
COP29 will feature a World Leaders Climate Action Summit, along with dialogues and thematic days aimed at mobilising investments, sharing best practices, and driving the global climate agenda forward.
Planetary Health Equity
After ongoing criticism, the last COP included health considerations in its agenda for the first time, leading to the historic COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health and the first “health day” at the annual UN climate summit in December 3.
Yet, health experts have raised concerns about “healthwashing”, noting that several of these efforts appeared to be instrumentalised by self-interested actors who contribute themselves to poor health outcomes.
We argue that the Planetary Health Equity (PHE) lens provides COP leaders with tools to effectively tackle environmental sustainability, social equity, and human health benefits.
PHE refers to the equitable enjoyment of good health in a stable Earth system. The concept fundamentally acknowledges that climate change and health inequities are tied to the current consumptogenic system.
By this, we refer to a “global system characterised by institutions, policies, commercial activities, norms and behaviours that encourage and reward the excessive production and consumption of fossil fuel-reliant goods and services that are unhealthy and inequitably valued and distributed.”
Approaching COP29 through a PHE lens implies purposefully phasing out of that consumptogenic system and focusing on developing the intersectional policy reforms needed to tackle intertwined climate and health issues.
Unfortunately, the COP29’s President-Delegate’s Letter to Parties and Constituencies does not signal such a shift to the narrative.
As he listed the themes at the centre of his vision for the upcoming COP, the President-Delegate – H.E. Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Republic of Azerbaijan – put “finance, trade and investment” at the forefront, pointed to a few environmental concerns, and finished up with a brief mention of “health, amongst other global priorities”.
COP29 participants must acknowledge the underlying consumptogenic system, undertake serious planetary health impact assessments and govern in ways to advance PHE policy and business practices if they want to provide the world with the immediate evidence-based changes needed.
We provide here an example of the applicability of the PHE lens by looking at the food system through COP’s four workstreams: (1) clarifying the details of the loss and damage funds to help vulnerable communities, (2) driving towards a global goal on finance that would help fund developing countries’ efforts tackle climate change, (3) accelerating both an energy and a just transition, and (4) closing the massive emissions gap.
Food system through a PHE lens
1. Loss and Damage Funds to help vulnerable communities
In regions highly susceptible to climate change, like Sub-Saharan Africa and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), climate disasters disrupt food systems, leading to malnutrition hunger, and food insecurity due to high prices.
By integrating PHE, Loss and Damage Funds could aid climate-resilient agricultural practices to improve both environmental sustainability and nutrition outcomes. For example, promoting drought-resistant crops and regenerative agriculture techniques in these regions would ensure food security, build healthier communities, and reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture.
This year’s COP provides a strong opportunity to tackle food security by repurposing finance from carbon-intensive, highly extractive fossil-foods into decentralised, more equitable ag-industries.
The imperative was confirmed in June 2024 at the Bonn Climate Change Conference and by the Rome-based UN agencies, as climate action and financing were urged in fragile and conflict-affected setting
The inclusion of aquatic systems and their integration into the NDCs also signals a broadening of the climate agenda to include often-overlooked sectors.
2. Driving towards a global goal on finance for developing countries
A food systems transformation under a PHE lens would prioritise funding for initiatives that support sustainable farming and encourage plant-based diets in developing countries.
One such initiative could be the Harmoniya 4 Climate Resilience Initiative, which was introduced at the Bonn conference this June. This focuses on finding practical solutions for climate resilience, targeting women, small-scale farmers, and the private sector.
Additionally, public health campaigns advocating for diversified diets rich in local, climate-resilient crops (such as millet or quinoa) could help curb the growing epidemic of diet-related diseases, while contributing to climate action.
Applying a PHE lens can also ensure that investments in sustainable food systems and climate finance support both healthier populations and reduced emissions from agriculture, which contributes to one third of the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
3. Accelerating both an energy and a just transition
A just transition in food systems would ensure that smallholder farmers – who are often most vulnerable to climate change – are included in the shift toward sustainable agriculture.
In regions like Latin America and Southeast Asia, programs supporting farmers to transition from high-emission livestock production to sustainable plant-based agriculture could improve both community health and environmental outcomes.
In tandem, these efforts could reduce reliance on fossil-fuel-intensive food systems, leading to lower emissions and more sustainable energy use in agriculture.
A PHE-focused food systems transition would deliver social justice by supporting marginalised farming communities and creating healthier, more sustainable food production systems.
4. Closing the massive emissions gap
Shifting global food systems to align with planet-sensitive diets – which advocates for a reduction in meat consumption and a focus on plant-based diets – would help close the emissions gap.
Here, calls for green public procurement targets, investment in low-carbon foods, and modern industrial policies can ensure a just and inclusive green transition.
By reducing the carbon footprint of the food system, countries can make significant strides toward meeting their NDCs. For example, policies promoting a transition to plant-based diets could reduce land-use by 76 percent, and diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 49 percent.
A food systems transformation driven by PHE principles would simultaneously address climate change and public health crises, ensuring progress toward emission reduction goals while promoting long-term well-being.
Making change happen
With only four percent of global climate finance reaching agri-food systems between 2019 and 2020, a critical gap needs to be closed.
Directing climate finance toward sectors like food, agriculture, and water management can create resilient systems that support both environmental sustainability and human health, yet these must support smallholder farmers, women, and Indigenous People.
COP Parties must allocate funds strategically, ensuring investments support vulnerable communities, promote sustainable practices, and deliver healthier, more resilient outcomes for all.
Collaboration and combined approaches, such as embedding agrifood system solutions into national frameworks, such as NDCs, NAPs, and long-term emissions strategies, are powerful. By doing so, countries can drive unified action not only to mitigate climate change but also to enhance food security, ensuring sustainable outcomes for both people and the planet.
Acknowledging these linkages is not political utopia, nor it is not too big to be applicable.
The last years have been marked by a shift in the legal framework underpinning the links between health, the environment, and the fuel-based consumptogenic system.
A landmark example is the groundbreaking decision by The Hague District Court ordering Royal Dutch Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030, based on the evidence of the linkages between the fuel industry and the consequences it has on health and the environment.
More recently, the International Court of Justice was asked by the United Nations to “provide advisory opinion” on the legal responsibility of States for impacts on climate change.
The emergence of the principle of climate justice echoes the underpinnings of the Global Climate Finance Framework operationalised at COP28, signalling both a cause and pathway for hope.
It is also a clear signal to world leaders that there is no more space for denying the evidence of the intersections between climate and health inequities and the consumptogenic system.
We are encouraged by the joint effort by the European Union and the Rome-based United agencies (the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)) to address planetary health issues in preparation for COP29.
We call other world leaders to action and stress that COP29 is the time to take leadership in guiding us towards a more equitable enjoyment of good health in a stable earth system.
Author details
Dr Meelan Thondoo is a Senior Research Associate at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. Meelan is a medical anthropologist and environmental epidemiologist working in the global health arena. Her research interests are in city-level health impact assessments and multi-sectoral interventions and integrated policies for health. Meelan has over 10 years of experience working in the design, implementation and evaluation of public health interventions in 15 countries across three continents. She plays a significant leadership role in showing how anthropology can enrich strategies and promote evidence-based policy-making and multi sectoral action for health in urban areas.
Cynthia Couette is a Dual Degree PhD Candidate in Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University and in International Relations at Laval University. She is affiliated with the Australian Research Centre for Health Equity and the Canada Research Chair in International Political Economy. Her different projects look at the influence of nonstate actors in the global governance of public goods.
Roxana Claudia Tompea is a communication and knowledge management specialist, with experience in sustainability and international development. Since 2020, she has been working at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), focusing on circular economy initiatives in industry. Her work centres on driving environmental action and promoting green growth opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. As a PhD researcher and ARC Laureate at the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse within ANU, Roxana investigates regulatory frameworks addressing greenwashing in the food sector, particularly in relation to ultra-processed foods. Her research interests include green growth, food systems regulation, and the misleading communication around health and environmental benefits in food marketing (leanwashing, healthwashing, and greenwashing).
Declaration from Croakey: The Planetary Health Equity Hothouse’s 2024 Future Leaders Program contracted Croakey Professional Services, for Croakey’s Editor in Chief Dr Melissa Sweet to present to participants.
See Croakey’s coverage of COP26, COP27 and COP28.
