Air pollution, climate change and health are related. Reducing emissions of most relevant air pollutants brings about the so-called Health Climate Bonus: not only climate-related benefits, but also benefits for health – whether direct, by reducing air pollution, or indirect, by preventing negative health effects caused by climate change.
The Paris Agreement, adopted by the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2015 (COP21), renewed emphasis on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate. The Agreement formalized countries’ commitments to achieving climate-related policy goals/targets through their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), in support of the objectives of the Convention.
To support countries in this endeavour, WHO/Europe has developed Climate Mitigation, Air Quality and Health (CLIMAQ-H), a software tool that analyses the effects of climate change mitigation policy actions. Specifically, CLIMAQ-H estimates the health and related economic gains achieved by WHO European Region Member States as a result of mitigation-focused policy actions aimed at reducing domestic carbon emissions, as reported by governments in their NDCs. CLIMAQ-H improves and replaces the Carbon Reduction Benefits on Health (CaRBonH) calculation tool released by WHO/Europe in 2018.
Countries can use CLIMAQ-H to assess the outcomes of climate change mitigation policies and support decision-making, or for screening “what-if” scenarios by comparing the potential health co-benefits associated with their NDC targets. WHO/Europe recommends ensuring the support of an epidemiologist or health impact assessment expert to set up CLIMAQ-H and interpret results.
CLIMAQ-H uses methodologies based on evidence from epidemiological studies and focuses on pollution from particulate matter. The accompanying manual provides details on the methodology and includes information on set-up, use and performance of example analyses. Relevant demographic and other data are pre-loaded for most countries in the WHO European Region.
Scaling up action on climate change mitigation and adaptation for health
According to reports from WHO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we need urgent, ambitious and transformational action, at scale, to limit global warming (preferably at 1.5 °C) and minimize the harm to both health and societal well-being.
WHO/Europe has set the achievement of health co-benefits through the synergies of tackling climate change and air pollution as a priority for scaling up action on climate change mitigation and adaptation for health. Investing in climate policies that reduce air pollution would be a best buy, in economic terms. At global level, the economic value of the gains for health from emission scenarios that meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement would exceed the financial cost of climate change mitigation efforts.