Climate change may well be the greatest threat to human health in this century. With an express mission to protect and enhance the health and well-being of communities, public health practitioners have both a responsibility and an obligation to be at the forefront of efforts to reverse climate change. The potential public health disaster posed by climate change presents a unique and important opportunity to articulate a health-based climate change strategy that will improve health outcomes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To assist the public health community in this effort, Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) has made an ambitious commitment to provide public health practitioners with the practical tools, policy strategies, and legal resources they need to effectively participate in climate change planning activities taking place at the state, regional, and local levels. PHLP is working in cooperation with a diverse coalition of stakeholders to fulfill this goal, including experts in public health, land use planning, climate science, and environmental law.

As a first step, PHLP gathered a diverse group of more than 150 participants for a multi-disciplinary exchange of ideas and strategies with the goal of better engaging public health networks and agencies in climate change work. This Action Plan presents a synthesis of those recommendations and priorities.