Core Concepts
We have a once in a generation opportunity to confront the climate crisis and create positive change. Education is our most powerful tool. We invite you to join us in disseminating and adopting the GCCHE Climate and Health Core Concept for Health Professionals.
First introduced in 2018, the Core Concepts Framework was developed by a team of interprofessional educators to:
- Establish a global "gold standard" for climate-health knowledge and skills needed by all health professionals
- Facilitate global harmonization of mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts within the health sector through capacity building
- Guide climate-health educational and curricular program development for health professional training institutions
- Support capacity building across sectors and stakeholders addressing the climate-health nexus
Now in its fourth iteration, the Framework undergoes review and updates every 24 months by our interprofessional and international coordinating committee, with vetting through the Consortium's academic members. This living document offers flexibility to integrate emerging science while providing a stable structure for curricular and program planning.
Framework Structure and Design
The GCCHE Core Concepts Framework encompasses five essential domains. Domain One, Two and Three apply to all health professionals, while Domain Four is specifically designed for public health professionals and Domain Five is specifically designed for clinical professionals. However, both Domain Four and Five can be used by educators outside of these professions to inform interdisciplinary curriculum planning and development. We intend to expand the competencies to include additional domains relevant to health administration, social work, and pharmacy in a future iteration.
The 2025 Domains are:
Knowledge and Analytic Skills establishes foundational understanding of climate science, ecosystem changes, and pathways for assessing climate-related health impacts. This domain equips health professionals with the analytical capabilities to evaluate emerging evidence and apply systems thinking to complex climate-health challenges. As climate-health science evolves rapidly, these concepts and learning objectives ensure professionals can interpret and translate new findings into practice.
Communication and Collaboration addresses the interprofessional and cross-sectoral nature of effective climate change adaptation and mitigation responses. Health professionals must be confident bi-directional communicators of climate-health connections to diverse audiences—including patients, institutional leaders, community partners, indigenous partners, and policymakers—as well as adept at translators across disciplines and sectors to implement comprehensive, collaborative solutions. As trusted messengers, health professionals in clinical and community settings require skills to distill complex scientific findings into digestible and actionable information that motivates health-protective behaviors and policies.
Policy, Advocacy and Professional Practice recognizes health professionals' critical role in shaping climate-responsive health policies as well as their unique opportunities and responsibilities to drive local and global change. This section of the framework aims to prepare health professionals to leverage their knowledge to advocate for society-wide awareness and responsive policies from local to global levels that address the root causes of climate change. This domain also emphasizes the ethical responsibility of health professionals to advocate for just and equitable climate and health policies that protect the most vulnerable populations.
Public Health Practice focuses on population-level approaches to climate resilience, including vulnerability and adaptation assessments, health impact assessments, surveillance and early warning systems, community engagement and education, health system preparedness, and other community-based interventions. Public health professionals develop competencies in preventing health risks, implementing protective measures, and addressing population vulnerabilities related to climate change events. This domain emphasizes strategies that build community resilience while reducing health disparities and the socioeconomic determinants of health exacerbated by climate impacts.
Clinical Practice addresses patient-centered care in the context of changing disease patterns and multifaceted risks to health and healthcare delivery resulting from climate change. Clinical professionals must develop skills in recognizing, diagnosing, and treating conditions influenced by climate factors while counseling patients on protective measures to enhance physical and mental well-being. This domain also includes adaptative measures that prepare healthcare infrastructure and systems to withstand climate-related disruptions while maintaining quality care delivery and mitigation measures that reduce the climate and environmental impact of healthcare delivery through strategies such as waste reduction, sustainable procurement and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Central to the Core Concepts Framework is equipping health professionals with the scientific rationale, evidence-based knowledge, and shared language necessary to advance the urgent societal and health sector imperative to both adapt and decarbonize. These concepts build the capacity to communicate complex climate-health science effectively to diverse stakeholders—from patients and community health partners to policymakers, including officials in health determining sectors - while fostering transdisciplinary partnerships essential for systems-level transformation. To this end, the Core Concepts Framework encompasses rigorous methodologies for assessing healthcare's environmental impact, implementing evidence-based sustainable procurement practices, monitoring progress towards low carbon operations, optimizing resource utilization through data-driven approaches, accelerating the transition to clean energy sources, and redesigning care delivery models to minimize emissions while maintaining or improving quality of care. By developing the integrated core concepts and learning objectives that combine scientific understanding, collaborative approaches, and technical skills, health professionals are empowered to contribute to creating a healthcare sector that not only provides evidence for climate action but also leads by example in the global transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
Past Iterations:
Access the Editorial about the 2023 competencies in Plos Climate
Sorensen C, Campbell H, Depoux A, Finkel M, Gilden R, et al. (2023) Core competencies to prepare health professionals to respond to the climate crisis. PLOS Climate2(6):e0000230.