The City of Kuopio has signed the Cork call to action on climate and health

60 cities and 22 countries commited to local action as heat- and climate-related deaths rised across Europe. Kuopio was among the cities that signed the declaration.

More than 100 mayors, deputy mayors and elected representatives have signed the Cork call to action on climate and health. By signing the declaration, they committed to taking local action to promote, among other things, biodiversity and preparedness for extreme weather events.

City leaders discussed and agreed on these commitments during a two-day WHO summit of mayors on climate and health. Hosted in Cork, Ireland, the event was organized by Cork City council and the WHO European Healthy Cities Network.

The call to action places cities on the front line of both the climate crisis and its solutions. The signatories committed to five key priorities:

• Nature-positive cities: protecting and restoring biodiversity, green spaces and water environments, while making greater use of nature-based solutions.
• Healthier and more sustainable food systems: ensuring access to affordable and nutritious food, strengthening local food economies and reducing food waste.
• Active cities: investing in walking, cycling and public transport.
• Healthy homes: improving housing quality and energy efficiency, while ensuring affordable and healthy living conditions.
• Resilience and preparedness: protecting communities from extreme weather events, flooding and heat.

The signatories also pledged to place health, equity and climate justice at the heart of local decision-making, ensuring that all communities can benefit from climate action.

The City of Kuopio’s Smart Kuopio (Viksu Kuopio) program, biodiversity action plan (Lumo) and wellbeing plan strongly support the objectives of the WHO Cork call to action on climate and health. Through the Smart Kuopio program, the city promotes carbon neutrality, resource wisdom and sustainable mobility. The Lumo program sets out the key objectives and measures through which the city safeguards biodiversity in its own operations. Meanwhile, the wellbeing plan emphasizes health-promoting living environments, physically active lifestyles, inclusion and reducing health inequalities. Together, these city programmes and the call to action strengthen the integration of climate and health considerations into decision-making and support the creation of equitable, healthy and climate-resilient urban environments.

“Addressing climate change is one of the greatest global challenges of our time, and cities play a central role in that work,” says Sakari Pääkkö, Second Vice Chair of the Kuopio City Board, who represented the City of Kuopio at the summit.

“Kuopio has already made significant progress, but the work must continue. One important climate-related theme that was strongly highlighted at the Cork summit was the importance of sustainable food systems. Climate change is making food production more challenging, which makes sustainably produced local food increasingly important from the perspectives of security of supply, public health and the climate alike.”

There is a clear need for accelerated action. Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, warming at approximately twice the global average rate. Since 2022, heat has caused more than 200,000 deaths across the European Union and associated countries, with the majority of these deaths considered preventable.

“This declaration clearly demonstrates that mayors and city leaders across Europe are providing political leadership on one of the greatest challenges facing our communities,” said Damian Boylan, Lord Mayor of Cork. “The discussions, workshops and site visits over the past two days have shown that climate change is not a distant or theoretical issue. It is already affecting the health of our residents, and cities have a crucial role to play in implementing practical solutions. I hope that the Cork call to action will further accelerate both collaboration and ambition.”