The climate crisis is a health crisis. Climate change results in widespread and increasing impacts on health, health systems and health-determining sectors. Given the health impacts of climate change, the many health co-benefits of climate mitigation and adaptation across sectors, and the need for climate-resilient, low-carbon health systems, health is now recognized as a priority in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

NDCs are one of the key national climate plans that 195 countries and territories have agreed to prepare, implement and update as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement and to report their progress to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The long-term goal of these and other climate plans is to limit global warming to 1.5–2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to shape a future with net-zero emissions.

This document seeks to guide policy-makers, ministry of health staff, and staff of other government departments leading and contributing to NDCs to integrate health in their countries’ NDCs. It aims to support the health sector to understand the international and national climate plan processes, plans and terminology and the key entry points for health.

The document provides an overview of the structure, quality criteria for health integration, examples, and useful resources for the main components of NDCs: leadership and enabling environment; national circumstances and policy priorities; mitigation; adaptation; loss and damage; finance; and implementation.

The aim of the document is to provide overarching guidance to national governments to raise the quality and ambition of NDCs, which can be adapted and modified according to the local context and priorities. The quality criteria are not intended to be prescriptive. The overall objective of promoting healthy NDCs is to address the health impacts of climate change, support climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems, and identify and maximize the health-related co-benefits of climate policies and plans across all relevant sectors.