Climate Leadership and Health

A profound gap exists between responses to climate change and the public health threat it poses. Despite decades of forecasting, the impacts of climate change on human well-being remain under-surveilled and marginalized as an environmental issue rather than treated as an existential crisis of planetary health. The risks are broad, ranging from changing patterns of infectious disease to rising heat related illness, to the escalating impacts of climate-driven disasters on mental health. As the world continues to warm, our global public health systems must prepare to keep people safe.  

To address this existential challenge, Perry World House and Penn Climate at the University of Pennsylvania are cohosting a conference on ‘Climate Leadership and Health.’ It brings together world leaders, policy experts, and academics working at the vital intersection of climate science, urban design, and public health to discuss how to transition global climate-health governance from reactive crisis management to collective readiness. By bridging research and actionable policy, experts will examine three core priorities: 

• operationalizing integrated One Health surveillance system, 
• developing climate-resilient built environments that protect physiological and psychological well-being; and 
• driving youth-led action.

All are welcome to join Perry World House and Penn Climate on Friday, September 18, 2026, for this critical discussion. The conference will open with a keynote by H.E. Aminath Shauna, former Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology of the Maldives – one of the most climate impacted countries in the world. Participants will then hear from an esteemed cohort of experts on how we might tackle the urgent impacts of climate change on public health.

All panels of the conference are open to the public. Click the links below to register.

Click here to register for “One Health & Integrated Disease Surveillance” on Friday, September 18, 2026 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Click here to register for “Built Environment — Urban Design, Heat Mitigation & Infrastructure” on Friday, September 18, 2026 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.