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About the European Climate and Health Observatory

 

The European Climate and Health Observatory is a partnership between the European Commission, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and several other organisations.

The Observatory aims to support Europe in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change on human health by providing access to relevant information and tools. It also fosters information exchange and cooperation between relevant international, European, national, sub-national and non-governmental actors. It contributes to the European Green Deal and the EU4Health vision for a healthier European Union.

The Observatory covers the 38 EEA member and cooperating countries (as of 1 February 2020).

 

The partnership

The Observatory operates as an informal partnership of European and international organisations with an interest and operational capacity in climate change and/or health. The European Climate and Health Observatory is managed jointly by the European Commission and the EEA. The partnership also includes the following organisations:

 

The key requirement for the partner organizations is to provide concrete in-kind contributions and activities that contribute to the Observatory’s strategic objectives. The partners propose actions in the Observatory’s two-year workplans and commit to deliver on those. The partners actively participate in the bi-annual Partnership Meetings, which take stock of the activities, build the collaborations, and plan future activities relevant to the Observatory. The partners are also encouraged to promote the Observatory outputs, portal, and activities in their networks.   

 

The long-term vision

The Observatory aims to become the authoritative source of actionable knowledge on the past, current and projected climate change risks to health at all life stages and in all settings, as well as on policies and actions addressing them. The Observatory partners will therefore aim to make a significant contribution to the following objectives by 2030, in collaboration with stakeholders from public administration at all governance levels and from various sectors, civil society organisations and the research community:

  1. Observatory users can monitor key climate-related health risks, impacts and adaptive responses through robust indicators
  2. National and sub-national health policies and systems can integrate adaptation more systematically and consistently
  3. Public authorities have greater capacity to anticipate and prevent climate-related threats to health in a timely manner
  4. The health community in Europe is climate-literate and better involved into adaptation decision-making
  5. Evidence-based efficient, effective and inclusive adaptation solutions and public health and healthcare interventions are widely known

See the details of the above strategic objectives here.

 

The workplans

The Observatory is operating according to two-year workplans agreed by the Partners. The workplan for 2023-24 can be found here; that one for 2021-22 here. The Observatory intends to publish regular reports on the selected aspects of climate impacts on health in Europe.

 

The portal

The Observatory is maintained by the EEA as part of the European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT). It provides access to the following types of information related to climate and human health in Europe:

  • European and national policy context
  • Impacts of climate change on health in Europe
  • Indicators on climate and health
  • Information systems and tools on climate and health
  • Access to forecasts and early warning systems on climate and health

The European Climate and Health Observatory also includes a searchable Resource Catalogue, which provides access to further relevant quality-controlled resources, including:

  • Publications and reports
  • Research and knowledge projects
  • Guidance material
  • Information portals

 

Users are invited to propose relevant items (e.g. new publications) for inclusion in the Observatory’s Resource Catalogue by emailing climate.adapt@eea.europa.eu

OBSERVATORY  PARTNERS

In charge of developing projects that contribute to the observatory; providing input and advice to assessments; providing content for the web portal; and sharing outcomes from relevant projects and events.