WHO/Europe launches bold new commission to fight deadly heat, air pollution and floods with real health-sector solutions
Opening remarks by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, at the launch and first hearing of the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health
Reykjavík, Iceland, 11 June 2025
Good morning.
We are gathered in Iceland to embark on a critical and timely mission: to put forward workable health sector solutions to address the climate crisis, a global health emergency that is deepening social inequities.
Climate change is already making us sick. It’s killing us, and it’s only getting worse.
That’s why we are launching the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health – because the climate crisis is a health crisis, and climate action is health action.
Let’s look at the evidence: 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history. The average global temperature has now remained 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels for 12 consecutive months.
Here in Iceland, every single glacier is retreating, unsurprising as the European Region is the fastest warming in the world.
Over 100 000 people died from heat-related causes in 2022 and 2023.
And new risks are appearing: warmer environments are supporting the emergence of mosquito and tick-borne diseases in countries that have never previously recorded them – diseases such a dengue, malaria, West Nile fever and tick-borne encephalitis in central and northern European countries.
We are already seeing the mounting costs of lives lost, homes destroyed and futures erased.
And the most vulnerable – children, the elderly, those already struggling – always suffer the most.
Devastating floods in Spain, wildfires in Greece, landslides in Central Asia and other extreme weather events across the Region have traumatized many communities, emergency response teams and health workers.
For the health workforce, summer now brings not just warmer weather, but rising anxiety and stress – with the prospect of major disruptions to health services and equipment, increased patient discomfort and a likelihood of health workers pulling double-shifts due to surges in cases of hyperthermia, heat stress and respiratory issues.
Indeed, air pollution, made worse by burning fossil fuels, now causes over half a million premature deaths a year in the European Region; globally, it’s 7 million.
Floods are the costliest type of natural disaster in the European Union (EU), and climate change is only making them more frequent and intense, to the point of becoming uninsurable in some cases.
Floods cost the EU on average €12 billion in damages each year.
In the WHO European Region, covering 53 countries across Europe and Central Asia, 10% of urban populations now live in flood-risk zones – and that’s rising fast.
Eight out of every 10 people in the Region will live in urban areas by 2030, making our towns and cities the frontlines against climate change.
All of this means the time for talk is over; it’s time for action.
Our health systems are already under pressure but they’re also part of the problem, responsible for 5% of global carbon emissions – more than all the world’s commercial airlines combined.
This Commission is our chance to flip the script – to turn evidence into influence, and ambition into accountability.
The Commission’s work will build on discussions at last year’s COP29 in Baku, where climate and health gained renewed focus.
We have the science. Now we need solutions that can persuade ministers of health and finance, mayors and heads of government that investing in climate adaptation and mitigation isn’t a cost – it offers a return: for health; for peace; for prosperity.
And the return is real. For example, decarbonizing the health-care sector doesn’t just reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it also reduces health-care costs.
Take the National Health Service in England, which estimates that switching its entire vehicle fleet to electric would save over €70 million every year, while delivering a range of health benefits valued at over €320 million.
Over the next 25 years, Belgium aims to reduce health sector emissions by up to 73% through 16 proven interventions. These will help improve quality of care, eliminate inefficient practices and improve preventative health programming, just to name a few.
This is what smart policy looks like.
My hope for this Commission is bold yet simple: that it becomes a true engine of practical solutions; producing concrete, actionable recommendations that health leadership and authorities can take forward – together with WHO and partners.
I sincerely thank Her Excellency Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the former Prime Minister of Iceland, for agreeing to chair this Commission.
I am indebted to her, as I am to the Commission’s Chief Scientist, Sir Andrew Haines, and the 10 commissioners, for their expertise and commitment.
They, like me, are concerned that the window for meaningful action is closing fast, but we also strongly believe that we can still make a difference.
Ultimately, we must act like our lives and the lives of future generations depend on it – because they do.
Thank you.