Cop28, scheduled for November 2023 in Dubai, will mark a historic moment as it will focus on health concerns for the first time. The event will host a meeting of global health ministers to discuss the impact of the climate crisis on human well-being. Cop28 will dedicate a day to health and host a health and climate ministerial, which aims to broaden the definition of adaptation to enable global climate resilience and transform food systems, forestry land use, and water management. The Health Day, in conjunction with the Relief, Recovery, and Peace Day aims to put a human face on climate change through the lens of health, as well as humanitarian relief, disaster risk reduction, reconstruction, and peace. Climate change is expected to increase the burden on already overstretched global health systems, exacerbating the effects of climate disasters and the spread of disease vectors.
During the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which took place from 2 to 3 May 2023 in Berlin, ministers from around the world gathered to prepare for Cop28. The conference is expected to assess progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement, which will reveal that most countries are falling short of cutting greenhouse gases to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C.
The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is an annual high-level forum that takes place ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conferences. The series was co-hosted in Berlin by the German Federal Foreign Office and the United Arab Emirates, which is the incoming COP28-Presidency. This year’s dialogue brought together representatives from over 40 countries to strengthen trust in multilateral climate negotiations and between states. The conference has been held in Berlin since 2011 and was previously organised by the Environment Ministry.