Climate Change and Health
WHO has been working on climate change and health for over 25 years - advocating, collecting evidence and providing comprehensive support to countries in dealing with health effects of climate change.

Climate change and health toolkit

Health co-benefits of climate action

When implementing mitigation and adaptation policies, social or economic hurdles may arise. However, studies are increasingly showing that the implementation of climate policies leads to both cost savings and improvement in health. Mitigation of climate change in various sectors, including housing, transportation and energy, has many co-benefits that lead to substantial health gains and reduced health risks.

Key Resources

All →
Health in the green economy : health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - transport sector

WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovernmental...

Health in the green economy : health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - housing sector

WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovernmental...

Tools

Tools to assess, plan and finance interventions on climate change and health; and assess the full range of health and economic impacts from sector policies and air quality interventions. These tools allow policy makers to estimate potential economic, health and environmental impacts from particular sectors, track health indicators, and incorporate health considerations in the decision-making process.

Air pollution in Krakow, Poland

WHO's tool AirQ+ is a health risk assessment and modeling tool that calculates the health effects of long-term exposure to both ambient and household (indoor) air pollution. Air Q+ will allow you to estimate the reduction in life expectancy, and health effects as air pollution levels change. Developed by WHO/Europe

bicyclist physical activity urban health

HEAT calculates the health benefits and economic impact of increased proportions of urban walking and cycling (these activities reduce diseases associated with physical inactivity). In addition, HEAT can accounts for any health effects of injury risks and air pollution exposures, as well as carbon emissions. The tool can be used for health-based assessments of the current levels of cycling or walking, as well as the anticipated health benefits from projects that lead to increased walking and cycling. Developed by WHO/Europe

truck exhaust pollution

iSThAT calculates the air pollution emissions (PM, NOx, SO2 and CO2) from the existing mix of bus, car and motorcycle traffic. iSThaT also determines the health and economic impacts deriving from changes in these emissions over time. Users can estimate the proportional contribution of traffic emissions to local air pollution concentrations, as well as project emissions in the future from fleet, fuel and transport demand changes. iSThaT is a user-friendly, interactive tool designed to make optimal use of available data in low- and middle- income cities and countries to advise policy and advocacy. Developed by WHO

A General View of Marina Bay Sand at Night on September 20, 2016 in Singapore, Singapore

GreenUr calculates the impact of urban green spaces on health exposure, including cardiovascular disease. GreenUr is a flexible Geographic Information System (GIS) plugin. Developed by WHO/Europe

Household pollution

The WHO Benefits of Action to Reduce Household Air Pollution (BAR-HAP) Tool is a planning tool for assessing the costs and benefits of different interventions to address the global burden of disease associated with cooking-related household air pollution. Developed by WHO

More Resources

All →
Health in Nationally Determined Contributions (‎NDCs)‎: a WHO review

Countries can strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement by developing health-inclusive and health-promoting climate...

2018 WHO health and climate change survey report: tracking global progress

This report provides a vital snapshot of the overall progress that governments have made in the field of health and climate change to date, as well as...

COP24 special report: health and climate change

This report is a contribution from the public health community to support the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change...

Climate and health country profiles 2015: a global overview 

 To protect health from risks derived from climate change, decision-makers (going from national leaders to individual citizens) need access to the...

Health in the green economy : health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - transport sector

WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovernmental...

Urban transport and health: on behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (‎BMZ)‎

This Sourcebook on Sustainable Urban Transport addresses the key areas of sustainable transport policy framework for a developing city. The Sourcebook...

Health in the green economy : health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - housing sector

WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovernmental...