Building Climate and Health Leadership Capacity in Norway
Categories: Action Line 2: Evidence-based policy strategy and capacity building, Assessments of climate and health risks and GHG emissions, Climate resilient and low carbon infrastructures, technologies, and supply chain, Climate-related emergency preparedness and management, Climate-smart workforce, Climate-transformative leadership and governance, Health and climate research, Integrated risks, monitoring, early warning, and GHG emissions tracking, Health systems wide resilience
Country: Norway
Organizations: University of Oslo and Norwegian Directorate of Health
The intervention
The University of Oslo, in collaboration with the Norwegian Directorate of Health, developed a three-day course on climate change and health for senior clinicians and policymakers. The course strengthens leadership capacity on climate adaptation and mitigation in the health sector. It covers the health impacts of climate change, governance, and resilience, using real-world case studies and interactive learning. Teachers include health leaders, academics, and civil society experts. Aligned with the Budapest Declaration and global commitments such as the COP26 Health Programme and the COP30 Belém Health Action Plan, the course fosters actionable leadership for climate-informed health governance.
Success factors
Several factors of the design and implementation of the course were considered successes. In terms of design, learning objectives, content and delivery format were developed based on experiences from previous courses on climate change and health for medical students, and was further informed by a survey of the target group. Furthermore, the course assessment includes several options which are relevant for those taking the course. In terms of implementation, the course was opened by high-level leaders within health governance and academia and lecturers included a variety of stakeholders, offering diverse perspectives. The course has now been delivered three times and the design has been tweaked based on feedback from participants and developments in the healthcare sector, ensuring sustained relevance and demand among decision-makers.
Recommendations
Replication of this initiative involves developing a concise reading list tailored to participants’ professional contexts and ensuring diverse stakeholder representation in course delivery. To strengthen practical application, participants can be encouraged to identify potential areas of work before the course and implement actions immediately afterward. Establishing participant-led communities of practice - through alumni gatherings or thematic peer networks - helps sustain engagement and learning. Scaling can be achieved through a train-the-trainer model, recorded lectures, and digital learning platforms, enabling wider reach and integration of climate-health leadership training into national and institutional capacity-building programs.
Key resources
The development of the course for health leaders builds on experiences from developing a course for medical students, which is described in this article:
- Example of work by a participant after completion of the course
- University of Oslo's description of the course (in Norwegian)
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