Tracking progress on health and climate change in Europe

Abstract

Left unabated, climate change will have catastrophic effects on the health of present and future generations. Such effects are already seen in Europe, through more frequent and severe extreme weather events, alterations to water and food systems, and changes in the environmental suitability for infectious diseases. As one of the largest current and historical contributors to greenhouse gases and the largest provider of financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation, Europe's response is crucial, for both human health and the planet. To ensure that health and wellbeing are protected in this response it is essential to build the capacity to understand, monitor, and quantify health impacts of climate change and the health co-benefits of accelerated action. Responding to this need, the Lancet Countdown in Europe is established as a transdisciplinary research collaboration for monitoring progress on health and climate change in Europe. With the wealth of data and academic expertise available in Europe, the collaboration will develop region-specific indicators to address the main challenges and opportunities of Europe's response to climate change for health. The indicators produced by the collaboration will provide information to health and climate policy decision making, and will also contribute to the European Observatory on Climate and Health.

City-Level Transition to Low-Carbon Economy

“…Decarbonisation pathways are evaluated by monitoring several key indicators. Building upon previous work in the field, the research method is based on five distinct phases: (1) determining key indicators of the energy transition index (ETI), (2) building a detailed database of the case study area, (3) determining viable development scenarios, (4) conducting a market analysis (consisting of a software optimisation and a sensitivity analysis), and (5) interpreting results and devising appropriate recommendations.…”

“…During the past few decades, a number of long-held tenets regarding the energy sector have been rewritten. Climate change emerged as a global issue directly related to the quality of life [1]. The realisation of the negative environmental impact of power generation has been causing a stir among energy companies and policymakers worldwide [2].…”

“…Section 2 offers a literature review. It focuses on two key areas: (1) studies on achieving a 100% renewable energy system and (2) research in the field of multi-criteria decision support systems (DSSs). Section 3 outlines the main aspects of the probabilistic model used to build and evaluate energy development scenarios.…”

Envisioning sustainable and equitable World Health Assemblies

“…Likewise, the changing climate alters environmental susceptibility for infectious disease transmission (eg, malaria, chikungunya, West Nile virus, vibrio). Moreover, threats to food and water security undermine the social and physical determinants of good health 17 18. Importantly, the effects of climate change on health—both incremental and disastrous—are often unequal 19 20.…”

Climate change, trauma and mental health in Italy: a scoping review

“…Climate change is having widespread health impacts in Europe and across the world. According to the Lancet Countdown in Europe, climate change is already affecting health across the European region through more frequent and extreme weather events, changes in the environmental suitability for infectious diseases, and alterations to water and food systems (Romanello et al, 2021a ). Rising temperatures have led to increasingly intense heatwaves over the past decades in Europe, such as the 2003 heatwave which has been linked to 70,000 excess deaths in Europe (Robine et al, 2008 ).…”