Conference 'How to implement health and wellbeing policies on climate change'
The conference “How to implement health and wellbeing policies on climate change” was organised by the Department of Care, Flanders in co-organisation with the WHO/Europe Regions for Health Network and the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels on 15, 16 and 17 September 2025.
The health sector’s role in climate advocacy is underestimated and underutilized. Climate action must be fully embedded in healthcare and health policies — it is not separate from health, it is health. Addressing climate-health challenges requires structured knowledge sharing and collaboration across disciplines and regions. A three-step approach — prevention, cure, and crisis preparedness — ensures resilient, health-driven climate action.
The conference was set up with specific purposes in mind:
- Share challenges, solutions and success factors on "how"
- Align the regional approaches on health and wellbeing
- Share good practices
- Networking: building and strengthening regional networks for collaboration
Regions can act as the interface between coordination of local action and drafting of national plans. From high-level plenary sessions to hands-on workshops with room for networking, we have shared knowledge, debated the pressing challenges we are facing, and discussed potential solutions and success factors. And above all, we inspired each other with good practices.