Some of the world’s biggest philanthropic funders are committing $300 million over the next three years to address the effects of climate change on human health.

The Rockefeller Foundation, Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Bloomberg Philanthropies are among eight organizations that have pledged funds to the initiative, dubbed the Climate and Health Funders Coalition. They expect additional contributions over time from the broader coalition of around 35 groups. 

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The effort is part of a new focus on building humanity’s defenses against the mounting consequences of a hotter planet. Intensifying extreme heat now kills nearly one person each minute, according to the latest annual report on climate and health by medical journal The Lancet. Storms and wildfires also take a major toll on public health. That includes the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which climate change intensified, on Jamaica and other Caribbean nations.  

“There’s been this growing sobering reality of just how much climate is impacting health and how woefully unprepared our systems are,” says Estelle Willie, director of health policy at the Rockefeller Foundation who was involved in the coalition’s launch. “In this context of what’s going on right now to people’s health due to climate change, it really demands a new playbook.”

Last month, Bill Gates said that “it’s time to put human welfare at the center of our climate strategies,” with the Gates Foundation committing $1.4 billion to help small-scale farmers adapt to climate change and boost productivity. And at the COP30 climate talks this week in Brazil, delegates will discuss the Belém Health Action Plan, a new framework that will include a set of health indicators related to climate, such as heat-related deaths.

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The new coalition is being formed as global political will to reduce emissions is fading. At the same time, global health funding has suffered as the US and other countries cut aid to developing nations. 

The idea of the health coalition dates back to a health-focused day at COP28 talks in Dubai in 2023, a first for international climate talks. Back then, “philanthropy had not come together around climate and health,” Willie says. “So there was no aligned priorities, there was no co-funding, there was nothing.”

The Rockefeller Foundation and Wellcome Trust have since worked to bring philanthropies together on these issues. They also narrowed in on four areas of focus: extreme heat, air pollution, infectious diseases and climate-health data that can be used for decision-making.

One of the projects funded by the coalition is a partnership with the Self-Employed Women’s Association, a union in India, testing out insurance plans for its members — low-income women working as day laborers — that pay out during extremely hot days. That way they aren’t forced to work and endure health risks, but can still feed their families, Willie says.

Rockefeller is also working with the private sector and the union members’ employers to implement protective measures like rest breaks, and access to cool water, shade and bathrooms, Willie says. 

Bloomberg Philanthropies is the philanthropic organization of Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, which owns Bloomberg News.