Human health is impacted in many ways by climate change, both at the individual level and through systemic risks to the health system. The European Climate Risk Assessment identified heat stress and wildfires as the two risks for which urgent action is needed.
Cities emerge as crucial topics in climate discussions, with artificial surfaces amplifying environmental challenges and increasing health risks. From COP28, CMCC scientist Alfredo Reder emphasizes the need for city-focused high-resolution datasets and the lack of complete climate information in many developing countries, urging investments in models and datasets. As health and climate take center stage, advanced techniques, such as artificial intelligence, aid in navigating uncertainties for informed decision-making, and in tackling the lack of information to address the global information gap.
Health impacts are among the most tangible effects of climate change: they affect billions worldwide, and they are more acutely felt by the most vulnerable parts of the population. Environmental economist at CMCC and member of the Burkina Faso delegation at COP28, Shouro Dasgupta underscores the imperative of integrating health concerns into climate policies to reduce both health impacts – especially on the most vulnerable populations – and unintended consequences of climate action.
The democratization of technology and the ability of AI driven models to better process both quantitative and qualitative data is opening new opportunities for the food system to become both more productive and sustainable.
The interplay between climate change, air quality and lung health is a key issue that requires innovative approaches and solutions. “It’s not just what the empirical evidence is telling us about different particle concentration levels in the air but how people are perceiving air quality,” says health policy expert at Economist Impact Elly Vaughan.
Diseases spreading to new corners of the globe as local climates become more suitable, vulnerable members of society killed by extreme events, reduced ability to work and faltering food security. A collection of CMCC reports, papers and articles on the impacts of climate change on human health, including strategies and tools to address them.
Infographics, resources, and analyses to understand the way climate change and health are closely connected. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events and substantial environmental transformations, primarily driven by climate change, pose significant threats to both physical and mental well-being. These changes have far-reaching implications for safety, affecting people’s access to critical resources such as clean air, safe water, food, and healthcare.
Heatwaves, wildfires and storms are affecting many regions of the world, especially the Mediterranean area, with impacts on people’s health, the environment and economies. Another record-breaking summer, which in the media is finally being unequivocally linked to human-induced climate change.
July 2023: we are living through Earth’s warmest three-week period on record. A round-the-world media tour to enter the narrative of the period that will mark the history of the climate change public discourse. At least until the next record is broken.
Climate change and global warming affect humans, nature and the environment at a global scale. However, their impacts are often not equally and uniformly distributed. People living in Urban Heat Islands are more likely to experience higher levels of heat-related risks for their health, often enhancing existing social inequalities.
Skyscrapers made of bamboo. Green roofs. Smart glass. Houses that are cool in summer and warm in winter without burning through loads of energy. All around the world, the future of cities and urbanization looks to bring smarter, more energy-efficient, healthier buildings to the urban environment. An unattainable utopia or simply a necessity in a rapidly urbanizing world that needs to find sustainable solutions to the cities of the future?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines drought as “a period of abnormally dry weather long enough to cause a serious hydrological imbalance.” The definition is however flexible, as drought is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, whose impacts are influenced by social, economic, and environmental factors.
