Announcement of the Belem Health Action Plan at COP30 in Belém, Brasil. (Photo Courtesy of Texas Impact)
Texas Impact | Nov. 19, 2025
If you’ve been following COP30, you may have heard mention of the Belém Health Action Plan. It is the first international climate adaptation framework focusing specifically on human health and health systems. Its main goal is to strengthen our health systems resilience to climate disaster.
A plan like this is important because we are already seeing half a million people die worldwide from heat-related causes a year. One in 12 hospitals worldwide are at risk of climate-related shutdowns, and 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in areas already designated as vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change.
When we see storms tear through populated areas or hear stories of droughts and heatwaves on the news, it’s not always immediately obvious to all of us that those climate disasters land just as heavily on the health systems that keep us healthy and safe. Closed or destroyed hospitals, packed out emergency department waiting rooms, and lack of critical supplies like IV tubes are real consequences we face as climate change escalates.
With this in mind, the BHAP calls on governments to: integrate health objectives into their Nationally Determined Contributions (the amount nations will pledge towards mitigating and adapting to climate change) and National Action Plans (their comprehensive plans for addressing climate change); divert savings from decarbonization to fund health adaptation and workforce capacity; and empower communities to take leadership in adapting their health systems to climate change.
The BHAP also empowers regional governments, health systems, and local communities to take initiative towards its goals. Below, you will find three sections from the BHAP that strike me as opportune for United Methodists to pay attention to and take action on.
1.3.5 Promote equitable workforce distribution and retention policies, supported by mechanisms to address health workforce shortages, striving for continuous service provision during climate-related emergencies, with particular attention to vulnerable regions, where appropriate;
2.2.5 Promote policies and investments that address climate change impacts on access to health care in historically marginalized territories, fostering formal integration of traditional knowledge into public policy and creating funding lines for community-based adaptation initiatives as appropriate.
2.7.1 Develop and support initiatives and public education campaigns on climate change and health adaptation at local, regional, and national levels, tailored to diverse audiences, with face-to-face and digital formats, and sensitive to cultural and territorial specificities as appropriate;
Within these sections are some invitations I think United Methodists can be mindful of as we heed our bishops’ call to work for creation justice. Of course, every part of the BHAP must be adapted to the specific contexts where it is being applied. I have developed the recommendations below from my experience as a hospital chaplain in southern Illinois. I hope that they can be a helpful jumping off point as you discern the invitations within the BHAP and fit them to your own communities.
United Methodists can urge our young people to consider careers in healthcare to help address health workforce shortages. As people of faith, we are especially equipped to do this. Christians have a rich history in the provision of healthcare because the tenets of our faith urge us towards lives of care, especially for the sick. Accordingly, we can celebrate the healthcare workers in our communities and take steps to actively connect their work and calling to the work and calling of the Church.
At the same time, we can support efforts to address the barriers to people having long careers in healthcare. Access to education presents a major barrier. Churches can sponsor young people who undertake education to go into healthcare, advocate for greater government assistance for students, and call for student debt relief. Relatedly, churches can support their local unions in fighting for better working conditions for healthcare workers.
Finally, we can also support policies and initiatives that increase access to healthcare amongst historically disenfranchised groups. We can develop or support public education campaigns that will inform our communities of the ways that climate impacts health. Churches can host health fairs, pop-up clinics, and find other ways to partner with their local health organizations that build resilience in our communities against the devastating health effects of climate change.
The Belém Health Action Plan focuses on climate adaptation. We cannot not talk about adaptation to climate change, even as mitigation remains of utmost importance. We’ve overshot the 1.5C limit and transgressed seven of nine planetary boundaries. Millions of people around the world are already dying from the effects of climate change. Adaptation matters greatly if we want to take part in creating a world where people everywhere have access to affordable and effective healthcare. The Belém Action Health Plan lays out some steps for us, and United Methodists have an important role to play in that work. Our Social Principles encourage us in this direction, in the section on Healthcare under Basic Rights and Freedoms:
“We affirm health care as a basic human right and vow to work toward expanded access to all forms of medical treatment, including preventative, therapeutic, and palliative care. Half the world’s population lack access to health care, and a growing number of people who do have access face increased medical expenses for themselves or their loved ones, pushing them toward poverty. To confront these painful realities, we urge United Methodists to join efforts aimed at creating systems that provide comprehensive health protections for all. Additionally, we believe that everyone has a right to decent living conditions, including adequate food and water, safe housing and a healthy environment.”
Nate Wieland is a hospital chaplain in Southern Illinois. A member of Greenville First United Methodist Church, he serves as the Caretakers of God’s Creation Coordinator for the IGRC.