Replication Data for: Engagement with health in national climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement

Background: Instituted under the Paris Agreement, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outline countries’ plans for mitigating and adapting to climate change. They are the primary policy instrument for protecting people’s health in the face of rising global temperatures. However, evidence on engagement with health in the NDCs is limited. Methods: We analysed the NDCs in the UNFCCC registry submitted by 185 countries. Using content analysis and natural language processing (NLP) methods, we developed measures of health engagement. Multivariate regression analyses examined whether country-level factors (e.g. population size, GDP, climate-related exposures) were associated with greater health engagement. Using NLP methods, we compared health engagement with other climate-related challenges (economy, energy, agriculture) and examined broader differences in the terms used in countries with higher and lower engagement. Findings: Countries making no mention of health in their NDCs are clustered in the richer Global North while greater health engagement is concentrated in the Global South. Lower GDP per capita and being a Small Island Development State were associated with greater health engagement. In addition, greater population exposure to temperature change and ambient air pollution were associated with more health coverage. Variation in health engagement is greater than for other climate-related issues, and reflects wider differences in countries’ approaches to the NDCs. Interpretation: A focus on health in the NDCs is patterned in line with broader global inequalities. Poorer and climate-vulnerable countries that contribute least to climate change are more likely to engage with health, while richer countries anchor their NDCs in non-health sectors such as energy and the economy. Funding: This work was in part funded through an unrestricted grant from the Wellcome Trust and supported by ESRC grant number ES/S012257/1.