Climate change and health: the national policy overview in Europe

This report is an investigation carried out into the European Environment Agency (EEA) 38 member and collaborating countries’ policies on climate change adaptation and their national health strategies, as the key policy areas through which climate change impacts on health can be addressed. The total of 37 national adaptation policy and 34 national health policy documents were reviewed, as respective policies did currently not exist in all countries.

The key messages of this report, are:

• Addressing climate change impacts on health in an effective manner requires actionable national policies. The emphasis on health in national climate change adaptation policies, and the consideration of climate change impacts in the national health strategy are key.
• The review of national policies of 38 EEA member and cooperating countries suggests that climate change impacts on health are commonly addressed in national adaptation strategies, but less frequently in national health strategies.
• Climate hazards that are the most frequently covered in national adaptation and health policy documents are heatwaves and drought; heavy precipitation and flooding; general temperature rise; increasing risk of pathogens and infectious diseases; and more intense and frequent storms.
• Both adaptation and health policies largely focus on the current and projected impacts on physical health, the most frequent being infectious and vector-borne diseases; increased air pollution; heat impacts on cardiovascular and respiratory systems; and injuries from extreme weather events. Mental health impacts are less frequently covered, and only a small proportion of the reviewed documents considered social health impacts.
• The most frequently planned interventions to address climate change impacts on health are monitoring and surveillance, including early-warning systems; awareness-raising campaigns for the general public; and continued research into climate change impacts on health.