The French Republic’s Ministry of Health, Families, Autonomy, and People with Disabilities, in its role as the G7 Presidency, and WHO hosted a strategic high-level meeting for the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) on 25 June 2026. Ministers of health, national representatives and other dignitaries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss next actions for tackling the health crisis posed by the climate crisis. The meeting coincided with a record-breaking 41 °C day in Paris, a timely reminder of why climate and health action is so urgently needed.
“We’re all experiencing this heatwave, but it isn’t just a one-off event,” said Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change, Air Quality and Energy Unit at WHO. “It’s absolutely clear that these kinds of events we are now experiencing around France and around the world are part of the pattern of what we have done by putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.”
The meeting opened with remarks from Mr Antoine Saint-Denis, French Ministry of Health, followed by a video address from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, and interventions from representatives of the COP30, COP31, and COP32 Presidencies. G7 delegates shared successful climate and health interventions and reaffirmed their commitments to integrating health into climate policy and strengthening multilateral and intersectoral cooperation.
“ATACH has become a unique global platform that translates high-level climate and health commitments into concrete actions,” said Dr Aziz Alper Biten, Director-General for EU and Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Republic of Türkiye.
A major focus was France’s “One Health & Beyond” declaration, launched earlier this year to embed health considerations into climate governance frameworks such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and the second Global Stocktake. Participants highlighted the need to better integrate the One Health approach into national climate policy frameworks.
ATACH presented progress updates and outlined priorities for the Alliance’s next phase, including the ATACH Operational Strategy, opening to ATACH Members for comment before publication at the end of August. Ministers from the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the Republic of Paraguay, the Republic of the Philippines, and the Republic of Senegal contributed insights on financing, system transformation, and supply chain decarbonization.
Civil society, youth representatives, and global partners – including Health Care Without Harm, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the Lancet Countdown – joined discussions on strengthening intersectoral collaboration and mainstreaming climatehealth action across sectors.
“The exceptional heatwave currently affecting France and several European countries serves as a reminder of the urgency of our meeting,” said Her Excellency Dr Stéphanie Rist, Minister of Health, Families, Independence, and People with Disabilities, France. “Our discussions have enabled us to go further, moving from acknowledging the urgency to establishing a diagnosis, and from the diagnosis to identifying priorities and the means to act. All health systems are already facing the consequences.”
ATACH brings together over 100 countries and over 100 partners who prioritize strengthening action on climate change and health at the national level. The Secretariat, hosted by WHO, links ministers, senior officials, and partners to accelerate global progress on climate-resilient, low-carbon and sustainable health systems at the country level.
Meeting recording
Editor’s note:
Original quote from the Minister: "la
vague de chaleur exceptionnelle qui frappe actuellement la France et
plusieurs pays européens elle nous rappelle l'urgence de notre
réunion nos travaux nous ont permis d'aller plus loin de passer du
constat de l'urgence au diagnostic du diagnostic en priorité et des
priorités au moyen d'agir tous les systèmes
de santé sont déjà confronté
aux conséquences" M