Hong Kong
From UWC to COP30: Putting people at the heart of climate action
When Yik Kei Leung (Li Po Chun UWC of Hong Kong, 2016-2018) arrives at COP30 in Brazil this November, he’ll be carrying more than policy paper and talking points. He’ll be bringing stories, real accounts of how people’s health and wellbeing are being shaped by the climate crisis.
As Senior Project Officer at Think-Film Impact Production, Yik Kei leads Healthy Planet Now, a global campaign using film and storytelling to put health at the heart of climate action.
“Health is the lived experience of climate change,” he explains. “It’s the essential link connecting people, climate and nature.”
Turning stories into impact
Yik Kei describes his role as a film impact producer, working at the crossroads of storytelling and policy to transform powerful films into tangible social change. Through Healthy Planet Now, he and his team invite people around the world to share their experiences of climate and health, from heat waves and air pollution to food insecurity and mental wellbeing. The campaign has already reached policy makers and community leaders at events such as the IUCN World Conservation Congress, London and NYC climate weeks, and will take centre stage at COP30. One recent highlight came when Philippines Mayor, Alfredo. M Corro II of Del Carmen, joined the campaign, sharing how his community has made health a guiding principle for local climate policy.
“Our goal is to connect top-down frameworks with everyday realities. When climate action is framed through health and wellbeing, it becomes personal. People see themselves in the issue and that’s when real change starts.”
Yik Kei traces his passion for human stories back to his time at Li Po Chun UWCHK: “At UWC I was surrounded by people whose lives were so different from mine,” he reflects. “Every friend had a story that shaped their commitment, to women’s rights, to conservation, to education. That curiosity about people’s lived experiences still drives my work today.”
After graduating, he studied Geography at King’s College London, exploring how people and environment shape one another. In 2021, he joined Think-Film Impact Production, a Europe-based organisation that uses visual storytelling to influence policy. His work since has spanned issues from deforestation and gender-based violence to LGBTIQ inclusion and mental health. Yik Kei now leads international campaigns that bridge cinema and social change, a role that feels like a natural extension of the curiosity first sparked at UWC.
Looking ahead to COP30
With countries preparing to submit their renewed climate commitments, Yik Kei sees COP30 as a turning point. Through Healthy Planet Now, he hopes to ensure that climate communication focuses not only on emissions and economics but also on community resiliency, health and equity.
“This is the moment to turn ambition into actions, we need policies that reflect people’s lives, not just numbers on a page. If we can make climate action human-centred, we can empower people to act and to see themselves as part of the solution.”
A call to the UWC community
For Yik Kei, the campaign is also an invitation to fellow UWC alumni and students. “Everyone has a climate and health story,” he says. “It might be the heat you feel in the summer, the floods you see getting worse each year or even the anxiety that comes from reading the news. These stories matter and together, they can shape how leaders act.”
He and his team will be bringing these stories to COP30 to show decision makers the lived realities behind the statistics, and mobilise tangible, measurable action and change.
Share your story at healthyplanetnow.org and sign the open letter to join the call for a Healthy Planet Now.
