Adaptation to the health effects of climate change and mitigation of the associated health risks is a global health policy issue that requires local and regional cooperation along with adequate resource allocation. However, following the withdrawal of the USA from the Paris climate accord, a new model of global climate response needs to be enforced, considering the urgency of these health effects among the low-income and middleincome countries (LMICs) of the global south. 1 Regional, national, and local actors need to be involved, thinking globally and acting locally. Although building capacity in local and regional policy leadership necessitates the involvement of educators, the multisectoral nature of the problem demands the use of learning approaches that are interprofessional and inquiry-based. Hence, we propose the use of academic, parliamentarystyle health policy debates for building capacity in climate leadership among today’s students—ie, the policy leaders of tomorrow.

Many such debates in the past have mimicked the World Health Assembly and its global scope. However, simulations of regional and local diplomatic bodies allow for a focused deliberation and the voicing of relevant, evidenceinformed arguments. In an example of a regionally focused health policy debate, an interprofessional group of students from both health and non-health professions participated in the Manipal Model WHO 2018 (at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India), where they debated approaches for adapting to and mitigating against the health effects of climate change in the south Asian region. 2 By receiving targeted instruction in health research literacy, parliamentary debate procedure,