Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI and Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia, was invited by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) to speak at its global workshop titled “The ‘What’ of Systems Transformation: Anchoring Climate Action in Health,” held virtually on 29 and 30 April 2025. The workshop was the first of a four-part information-gathering series, conducted on behalf of the NAM expert Commission, to inform the Commission’s development of a Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions.

Speaking at the session “Lessons for Transformational Climate-Health Action,” Mr Kumar spotlighted how South Asian cities are already catalysing climate-health co-benefits through integrated planning, community-focused interventions, and local governance innovation. He emphasised that tackling the climate-health nexus requires bottom-up approaches that leverage cities’ agility, proximity to citizens, and cross-sector coordination capacity.

Highlighting ICLEI’s extensive work, Mr Kumar noted that the organisation has played a pivotal role in facilitating the development and implementation of over 100 Climate Action Plans across the region—not only assisting in their formulation but actively supporting their integration into local governance and administration. He underscored ICLEI’s role in embedding health indicators in climate action plans, climate-smart municipal budgeting, and capacity-building.

Mr Kumar explained how the inclusion of air pollution and heat mitigation in urban climate strategies acts as a critical entry point for public engagement and political will and shared ICLEI’s suite of technical and planning tools—including the ClimateResilientCITIES Methodology, City Heat Resilience Toolkit, Assessing & Managing Loss & Damage, Urban Biodiversity Assessment Framework, Climate Health Vulnerability Mapping, Action Plans for Climate-Resilient Cities, Urban Cooling Guidelines, and Young Child and Caregivers Centric Urban Planning, the One Health and Climate Hub in Tamil Nadu, and Rajkot’s Urban Cooling Plan—all designed to equip local and sub-national governments to manage intensifying climate impacts while enhancing overall public health outcomes. He emphasised that through targeted capacity-building and strategic engagement with municipal leaders, ICLEI ensures these plans are not isolated documents but become actionable tools for city management.

Mr Kumar also spoke about the importance of finance in the successful execution of climate-health strategies. He highlighted ICLEI’s role in facilitating access to funding through its Transformative Actions Program (TAP), which bridges government-led climate initiatives with willing financial institutions and donor partners. This mechanism helps cities move from planning to implementation by unlocking finance for building resilient infrastructure and public health improvements.

ICLEI’s active participation in the NAM workshop highlighted the indispensable role that cities play in driving integrated climate and health solutions. Through its deep engagement in South Asia and beyond, ICLEI is demonstrating that local leadership, when empowered with the right tools, resources, and governance frameworks, can lead transformative changes.