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Heat from standing or driving cars, together with sealed road and car park surfaces, contribute for up to 30% of urban heat generated by people, according to the Austrian mobility and transport organisation VCÖ. Hence, traffic in cities contributes substantially to increase heat-related health risks and reduces citizens’ quality of life. Fewer roads, shaded infrastructure and more green spaces to stimulate active mobility and more public transport can reduce urban heat stress and the associated health risks.

When temperatures rise by 3°C towards the end of the century, Europe can expect a three-fold increase in annual heat-related mortality - to 129 000 deaths per year - due to climatic changes and Europe’s ageing population, a new study finds. Already existing regional disparities in heat risk, are expected to widen, with up to 10 times more deaths in southern and eastern Europe, even though heat-related mortality will rise everywhere in Europe.

Europe counted 47,690 excess deaths due to heat in 2023, estimated a new study in Nature Medicine. This is the second highest heat-related mortality burden since 2015, only surpassed by 2022 (over 60,000 estimated deaths). Despite this being a high number of mostly avoidable deaths, the heat-related mortality burden would have been 80% higher in absence of present adaptation measures, especially for the elderly.

To enhance public health, the post-election European Union (EU) should prioritise long-term challenges such as climate change and the ageing population, as well as factors that influence our health, according to a consultation of the general public. The findings, derived from a seven-month public debate led by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, highlight a collective call for the EU to play a more significant role in health.

Earlier this summer, the UN called for action on extreme heat in response to deadly temperatures impacts that cause worldwide around 489 000 estimated heat-related deaths every year in recent decades. According to WHO, the WHO European Region accounts, on average, for 36% of these heat-related deaths, or more than 175 000 deaths yearly, making heat stress is the leading cause of climate-related deaths.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) published the report ‘Heat at Work: Implications for Safety and Health’. This global review of the related research findings, existing policies and useful practices offers an analysis of national legislation to address heat stress in selected European countries and diverse workplace level measures, supported by scientific evidence of impacts and actions.

The EU Joint Research Centre released a policy brief with an overview of strategies, best practices, and policy tools to help local authorities in EU cities to manage extreme heat and risks.

Health Care Without Harm recently published a new guide designed to support health care professionals communicate the health impacts of climate change. The guide presents key talking points for communicating the relationship between climate change and health and the role of climate adaptation within the healthcare sector.

The latest news on the European Climate and Health Observatory and on climate-health policy and action in Europe is now delivered to your inbox every 3 to 4 months via a dedicated newsletter.

The World Economic Forum's report on the health impacts of climate change highlights how rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns exacerbate health issues, particularly affecting vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, and low-income communities​​. The report calls for action from the private sector, focusing on interventions in areas such as infrastructure, healthcare access, and environmental sustainability. The report underscores the interconnectedness of climate change and health, advocating for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to address the health impacts of climate change.

The World Bank report ‘Urban Overheating & Adaptation Measures’ explores adaptation strategies employed across the EU to reduce the health and societal impacts of urban heat. The measures include policies, initiatives and practices spanning various governance levels from the EU over the national to the city level. The report outlines the current state of play, highlights exemplary cases of innovation and resilience, and identifies pathways for enhancement and collaboration

Ensuring high job quality is a prerogative of the EU. The issue becomes particularly salient in the context of climate change. Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities and changes in their workplaces. Eurofound’s report on job quality and climate change outlines this complex relationship, including risks created by heat and infectious diseases, as well as the implication of green tasks in selected sectors. Not less than about 40% of workers in the EU will experience profound changes in their job tasks as our economies adapt to climate change and implement climate mitigation strategies.

The LIFE RESYSTAL project is gathering information about cases where hospitals have changed their physical infrastructures to adapt to the physical risks that climate change brings to their region. If your organisation has made any structural interventions to adapt to the impacts of climate change, fill out our survey until September 2024 and help strengthen the database on climate change adaptation in European healthcare.

EEA calls individual experts to express their interest to assist in performing preparatory work in support of EEA’s activities with a focus on the areas of - among others - Climate, and Health and environment. Experts included in the list could be asked to carry out diverse tasks related to dedicated topical work, e.g. draft chapters of reports, perform data analysis, provide opinions on drafting tender specifications, etc.

EEA's new briefing 'Preparing society for climate risks in Europe' presents lessons from Climate-ADAPT and Observatory case studies, which is a diverse set of examples of adaptation measures implemented across Europe. The briefing shows how the case studies inspire and help societies to better prepare for climate change, while also highlighting the need to scale up adaptation measures and actions across all policy sectors and governance levels to address escalating climate risks.

The EU PolicyWatch Database collects information on measures of governments and social partners to cushion current social and economic strains. Given the challenges climate change is creating, the database also maps how policy makers address the effects of extreme weather events on businesses, workers and citizens with 65 specific measures. The aim is to inform both governments and social partners on the different practices to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of climate change, while maintaining economic competitiveness and livability of local areas.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports an upward trend in the number of cases of dengue imported from dengue-endemic regions, as well as an increasing number of local outbreaks of both West Nile virus and dengue in the past two years. Increased temperature across Europe, as well as an increase in rainfall and humidity create favourable conditions for mosquitos that are a vector for the diseases (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus). Climate change is expected to increase the spread of mosquitos across Europe as the climate shifts to create more favourable conditions.

In a recent policy brief "Integrating Human Health in Climate Change Policies", the European Climate-Health Cluster – a Horizon Europe cooperation between 6 European research and innovation projects for the integration of human health issues in climate policies and programs – demands urgent, transformative actions on climate and health from European policymakers.

The 11 smallest countries in the European Region (including among others the EEA member and cooperating countries Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro and Slovenia) have jointly committed to stronger action to improve the health of their populations. The countries signed the Cyprus Declaration, which sets out a way forward to jointly act on health priorities, including via the resilience of health systems against climate change.

The LIFE project TreeCheck wins the 2024 LIFE Award in the Climate Action category, for assisting Central European cities in minimising urban heat island effect and its health impacts with the use of green infrastructure. LIFE TreeCheck developed among others software for easier urban planning and an app for the public to recognize trees and raise awareness on the heat reducing potential. The project also brings together knowledge and expertise for new measures, procedures and technologies to help cities cope with extreme temperatures.

At the World Health Assembly in Geneva last week, World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted a resolution on Climate Change and Health. The Resolution clearly identifies climate change as a major threat to public health, and sets out a framework to build climate-resilient and sustainable health systems. Among various proposed measures were multi-sectoral cooperation, awareness raising on the interdependence between climate change and health, and decarbonization to tackle the root cause of climate change. The adoption demonstrates a political commitment by governments and WHO to scale up climate action as a public health priority to protect people from the growing health impacts of climate change.

The new portal from Santé publique France provides public guidance on coping with heat, including specific advice for staying cool indoors and during sporting events.

The new factsheet by the World Health Organisation highlights the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves, their health impacts for the general population and vulnerable groups specifically, and health interventions and policies that can prevent and reduce risks and impacts.

Scientists from Climate Central, World Weather Attribution and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre identify in a new report human-caused climate change as a key driver for record-breaking global temperatures and dangerous extreme heat in the past 12 months. The high temperatures during among others heat waves in Southern Europe in the summer of 2023 would never have occurred without human-induced climate change.

In its General Programme of Work 2025-2028, the World Health Organization (WHO) prioritizes climate change and health, thereby underscoring the critical need to respond to the escalating threat to health posed by climate change. WHO aims to safeguard health amidst climate challenges by strengthening climate-resilient health systems, fostering synergies between climate resilience and mitigation efforts, and prioritizing vulnerable populations.