Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, it’s a great honour to be here.
Breathing is fundamental to life.
In the time it takes me to make these remarks, each of us will breathe an average of 36 to 60 times.
Every one of those breaths is sustaining you – sending oxygen through your body, enabling you to listen, to think, to decide.
Everyone, everywhere, deserves to breathe clean air.
And yet 9 in 10 people globally breathe air that fails to meet WHO’s standards.
Air pollution kills 7 million people every single year.
But despite years of talk, the international response remains weak for both cleaner air and climate action.
By improving air quality, cities and countries can reduce the costs of treating diseases caused by air pollution, and support sustainable growth.
Action to reduce air pollution can also mitigate climate change, because many of the sources of air pollution are also warming our planet, such as black carbon, methane and carbon dioxide, as you know.
Short-lived climate pollutants affect food, water and economic security for millions of people.
The good news is, there’s something we can do about it.
There are cost-effective ways to reduce these pollutants.
Investments in clean transport and energy, careful land use, energy-efficient buildings, and adequate waste management can bring immediate benefits for both people and planet.
But that requires a coordinated effort. I thank the outstanding leadership of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in pushing for joint action against air pollution and climate change.
WHO is proud, as a member of the Coalition, to have developed solutions to support countries and cities in their efforts to combat air pollution and climate change, including the Urban Health Initiative and the BreatheLife Campaign.
At tomorrow’s Climate Action Summit, world leaders will be asked to make concrete commitments with tangible impacts on climate mitigation and adaptation.
WHO has been given the mandate to develop two health commitments.
First, to achieve air quality that is safe for people, by implementing policies in line with WHO Air Quality Guidelines.
And second, to invest in action to mitigate the health effects of climate change.
We invite you to join forces with us to hold world leaders accountable for delivering on these commitments.
Air pollution is not something we just have to live with. We have a choice.
We can go on the way we are, pumping toxins into the air, killing more and more people.
Or we can change course. We can clean the air and make it possible for everyone to breathe life.
Thank you very much.