Health in the Nationally Determined Contributions

This tool provides a set of WHO recommendations for the creation of robust and ambitious health-promoting NDCs, identifying a broad range of public health measures that can benefit national mitigation and adaptation, implementation priorities, and contribute to increase ambition.The scope of this paper is threefold. First, this paper provides a snapshot of where health is positioned in current NDCs - submitted up to COP25, in December 2019. The overview thereby outlines countries’ current priorities and needs for ensuring healthy people and societies in a changing climate. Second, this paper provides a set of WHO recommendations for the creation of robust and ambitious health-promoting NDCs, identifying a broad range of public health measures that can benefit national mitigation and, adaptation and implementation priorities and can contribute to increased climate ambition. Lastly, the paper underscores the need for a tailored and equitable approach to NDC enhancement that is suited to a country’s specific circumstances. Some examples from existing NDCs are included to highlight current best practices from nationally determined contributions that promote health.