Generating evidence for health-centred climate mitigation policies

Climate change is a significant threat to human health, and incorporating evidence on the health benefits of climate change mitigation could drive urgent climate action. There is still time to act to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown.  

There is good evidence that all sectors of the global economy have options available to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. These emission reductions could result in substantial benefits to health.

In 2021, G7 countries and the European Union accounted for around 40% of the global economy, contributing up to 53% of the world’s cumulative emissions. G7 countries have a particular responsibility to cut their emissions as part of a just transition to a more equitable, sustainable and healthy global future.

We launched the funding call ‘Advancing climate mitigation policy solutions with health co-benefits in G7 countries’ in July 2022 to quantify the potential benefits to health of existing or planned climate change mitigation actions in G7 countries. The evidence that is generated in these projects has the potential to be used to drive more ambitious mitigation actions in these pivotal countries.

The projects we are supporting cover policies in many areas, including air quality, food systems, energy, transport and housing, using research methods such as modelling, testing, living lab and systems mapping.

These ambitious, transdisciplinary projects span the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany and Japan.