November 9, 2026 — The Climate and Health Funders Coalition has awarded more than $225 million in its first year, putting three-quarters of the initial $300 million pledged towards accelerating solutions on extreme heat, air pollution, climate-sensitive infectious diseases and data systems that protect people’s lives and livelihoods in a changing climate.
The Coalition, a group of leading global and regional philanthropies that made its initial commitment in November 2025 at COP30 in Brazil, now also has an additional $150 million in commitments from new and existing funders — including a matched funding opportunity for initiatives prioritizing clean air.
In a year when climate change has hit communities hard all around the world and with an unprecedented El Niño underway, the Climate & Health Funders Coalition is stepping up its support for practical solutions, innovations, policies and research to protect people’s health and lives — particularly for communities most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Over $225 million has been awarded globally to 20 solutions programmes and counting. Some of the organizations and initiatives driving impact include:
- The Clean Air Fund which works with a wide range of partners, spanning grassroots actors to governments, to accelerate action on clean air. Through its grants and projects, Clean Air Fund promotes air quality data, builds public awareness and influences policy making. Efforts include work to accelerate action on super pollutants and support cities around the world to clean the air and enhance public health through Breathe Cities.
- DHIS-2 which is integrating climate and environmental data in the health sector through partnerships with governments and national health systems and strengthening the use of open-source climate-health digital tools in low-and-middle-income countries across Africa and Asia.
- The Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN), including Hubs in South Asia and Southeast Asia, which bring together policymakers, scientists and practitioners to advance research and develop practical tools for heat health planning and intervention strategies. GHIIN recently co-organized the flagship Global Heat Forum in Bangkok, which convened over 600 participants, including the world’s top experts on climate and extreme heat to share solutions, secure further investment based on science, lived experiences and best practice.
- Nexa, a new global climate and health initiative investing in bold, locally led solutions that help health systems anticipate and respond to climate-driven health threats. Co-led by Grand Challenges Canada and regional partners Science for Africa Foundation and Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Nexa funds both climate-informed early warning and monitoring systems and climate-responsive patient care delivery, including climate-smart diagnostics.
- The Super Pollutant Action Alliance which is working to strengthen the global super pollutant ecosystem and accelerate emissions reductions by advancing philanthropic learning and collaboration, building capacity, and addressing barriers to action.
- The Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) — Africa Program which is transforming co-produced weather and climate information services to support decision making at local, national and regional levels and mainstreaming robust climate information into policy and planning.
The Coalition brings together institutional and individual funders operating at international, national and regional levels to mitigate climate change while protecting people from its increasing impacts, improving health and saving lives. The Coalition also supports international climate and health frameworks like the Belém Health Action Plan which launched at COP30 in Brazil.
The committed anchor funders include: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Gates Foundation, IKEA Foundation, Quadrature Charitable Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Philanthropy Asia Alliance (by Temasek Trust), and Wellcome. New funders making aligned commitments over the past year include: Novo Nordisk Foundation, Laudes Foundation and the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation.
Building on the Coalition’s early success and interest, the Coalition will soon establish an independent secretariat with a dedicated Executive Director to further connect philanthropies, expertise and investment to accelerate action on climate change and health. The Coalition has also been engaging sector and community leaders to advise on strategy and ensure the supported investments meet the needs of stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Action on climate change has never been more urgent, as it becomes increasingly evident that a rapidly warming world and extreme weather events like heatwaves and floods have the potential to threaten our livelihoods and economic security, our health and wellbeing. But there is also a window of opportunity to build a healthier, fairer and more prosperous future — if we act now and at the scale required through global partnerships.
The latest figures from the Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change reveal that:
- In 2023 alone, heat was linked to a record 710,000 deaths, with more than 70% of that toll attributable to human-caused climate change. Since the Paris Agreement entered into force ten years ago, human-caused climate change has contributed to an estimated 3 million heat-related deaths.
- Extreme drought affected more than half (51.8%) of global land for at least one month in 2025 — the second-highest level on record — with the affected area expanding more than 700% faster in 2016–2025 than in 2006–2015, exacerbating the risk of food insecurity.
- Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are increasing the environmental suitability for dengue transmission. A record-high number of people (1.72 billion) now live within 100km of coastal waters environmentally suitable for the transmission of Vibrio bacteria.
- Fossil-fuel air pollution still kills an estimated 2.73 million people a year worldwide but we are also starting to see the health gains from clean energy, with cleaner air preventing an estimated 323,000 deaths a year in at least 77 countries where air pollution from fossil fuels has fallen since 2016.
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