WHO/Europe has released an updated version of CLIMAQ-H, a powerful software tool for countries in the WHO European Region that helps them maximize the benefits of tackling climate change and air pollution together.
Climate change mitigation interventions need to be designed and implemented with health at their core to ensure that the major health co-benefits of climate change action are achieved. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which are released by burning fossil fuels, not only mitigates against ill health caused by climate change, but also reduces air pollution, with significant health co-benefits.
Climate change compromises health systems and affects both physical and mental health, with impacts on communicable and noncommunicable diseases. COP28, the latest Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, closed with a statement saying that the agreement reached “signals the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance”.
Why CLIMAQ-H is useful
In the last 30 years, temperatures in the WHO European Region have increased at more than twice the global average, making it the fastest-warming region globally. CLIMAQ-H estimates the health and related economic gains that countries can achieve by reaching carbon-reduction targets set by their governments in the wake of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
CLIMAQ-H can also be used for screening scenarios that compare the potential health co-benefits associated with different NDC targets, including inaction. Such assessments can help in making decisions on health-centred targets, based on the financial cost of mitigation policies. The updated tool, CLIMAQ-H 1.1, is now available for the Linux operating system and benefits from an improved graphical output and bug fixes.
NDCs and the Paris Agreement
In 2015, nearly 200 countries, including all those in the WHO European Region, signed the historic Paris Agreement to limit global warming, committing to achieve targets for reducing national carbon emissions. Since 2017, countries have submitted their NDCs indicating the actions they will take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.
At the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2023, countries in the WHO European Region renewed their commitment to tackling pollution and climate change, including by establishing health-centred targets in the NDCs.
According to reports from WHO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, urgent, ambitious and transformational action at scale is needed to limit global warming (preferably at 1.5 °C) and minimize the harm to both health and societal well-being. At COP28, the need for faster progress was stressed, with countries urged to submit ambitious national climate plans towards containing global warming at 1.5 °C.
‘Best buy’ climate policies
To scale up action on climate change, WHO/Europe focuses on the synergies of tackling climate change and air pollution, prioritizing the achievement of health co-benefits, and supports Member States in adopting this approach. In fact, investing in climate policies that reduce air pollution would be a best buy, in economic terms.
At global level, it has been estimated that the economic value of the health gains from emission scenarios that meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement would exceed the financial cost of climate change mitigation efforts.
In the WHO European Region, it has been estimated that if all countries implemented the actions and measures indicated in their 2017 NDCs, reducing emissions of particulate matter would result in avoiding about 138 000 premature deaths every year from 2030, leading in turn to savings of between 244 billion and 577 billion US dollars per year. These figures are most likely an underestimate.