Health and Climate at COP29: Advancing Integration and Bridging Research Gaps

Climate and health science is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field and holds importance during intergovernmental climate adaptation and mitigation policy negotiations. The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened stakeholders for negotiations and scientific discourse. This viewpoint presents insights gained by the authors’ participation at COP29 focused on health and climate. The authors analyze the evolving integration of health into the UNFCCC process, dissect the contributions and the role of the Research and Independent Non‑Governmental Organizations (RINGOs), a constituency to achieve this endeavor, and identify the key gaps in public health research and the policy dialogue that persist in climate negotiations. In the context of bridging research with policy discourse, we define the role of and opportunities to engage meaningfully for young scientists in shaping climate and health within the UNFCCC framework, as well as advancing climate and health science.