Today we launch the Phase One report from the Global Climate and Health Summit. It sets out the next steps to drive adaptation to protect lives today and the mitigation needed to secure health for generations to come.
The Global Climate and Health Summit, which the Physiological Society convened in London and online in July 2025, brought together more than 500 people from 25 countries to explore how physiological evidence can help society act faster, fairer, and more effectively in response to the health risks of climate change.
The Phase One report ‘Protecting people, shaping policy: Physiology and partnerships at the heart of climate and health’ marks the first step in turning the ideas gathered from the Summit into a plan of action. It captures the insights and evidence from two days of cross-disciplinary discussion, laying out four connected, strategic themes.
Roadmap for Action: Four priorities
Each theme tackles a different part of the challenge, but together they form a coherent framework that puts physiology at the centre of how the world prepares for and responds to climate impacts. The following will guide the next phase of work:
- Engaging people focuses on communication and literacy, ensuring individuals, professionals, and communities understand the physiological realities of climate change and have the tools to act.
- Scaling action looks at how to move from small-scale projects to system-wide delivery, connecting innovation, investment, and evidence so that proven, physiology-informed solutions reach those who need them most.
- Delivering accountability explores how physiological evidence can strengthen law and governance, providing credible measures of harm that underpin regulation and drive corporate and political responsibility.
- Defining boundaries calls for physiological evidence to be embedded into planning, regulation, and finance so that decisions reflect what human bodies can actually withstand and adaptation focuses first on those most exposed to risk.
Find out more and get involved
Andrew Mackenzie (Associate Director of Strategy and External Relations, The Physiological Society) and Professor Mike Tipton (Chair of the Global Climate and Health Summit 2025) share how the evidence is being turned into climate action in their blog, ‘A human-centred plan for climate and health’ detailing the plans for the Summit Roadmap and the Society’s role in the steps ahead.
If you want to protect lives, strengthen resilience, and secure a fairer future for all, get involved in Phase Two. To take part in the workshops and roundtable discussions that will inform the Roadmap for Action, register your interest now.