The 2022 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: towards a climate resilient future
The 2022 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: towards a climate resilient future
Kim R. van Daalen1, Marina Romanello2, Joacim Rocklov3, Jan C. Semenza4, Cathryn Tonne5 et al.
1 Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
2 Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK
3 Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
4 Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
5 Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain and CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
In the past few decades, major public health advances have happened in Europe, with drastic decreases in premature mortality and a life expectancy increase of almost 9 years since 1980. European countries have some of the best health-care systems in the world. However, Europe is challenged with unprecendented and overlapping crises that are detrimental to human health and livelihoods and threaten adaptive capacity, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fastest-growing migrant crisis since World War 2, population displacement, environmental degradation, and deepening inequalities. Compared with pre-industrial times, the mean average European surface air temperature increase has been almost 1C higher than the average global temperature increase, and 2022 was the hottest European summer on record. As the world's third largest economy and a major contributor to global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, Europe is a key stakeholder in the world's response to climate change and has a global responsibility and opportunity to lead the transition to becoming a low-carbon economy and a healthier, more resilient society.
The Lancet Countdown in Europe is a collaboration of 44 leading researchers, established to monitor the links between health and climate change in Europe and to support a robust, evidence-informed response to protect human health. Mirroring the Global Lancet Countdown, this report monitors the health effects of climate change and the health co-benefits of climate action in Europe. Indicators will be updated on an annual basis and new indicators will be incorporated to provide a broad overview to help guide policies to create a more climate-resilient future.
Publication details
Kim R van Daalen, Marina Romanello, Joacim Rocklöv, Jan C Semenza, Cathryn Tonne, Anil Markandya, Niheer Dasandi, Slava Jankin, Hicham Achebak, Joan Ballester, Hannah Bechara, Max W Callaghan, Jonathan Chambers, Shouro Dasgupta, Paul Drummond, Zia Farooq, Olga Gasparyan, Nube Gonzalez-Reviriego, Ian Hamilton, Risto Hänninen, Aleksandra Kazmierczak, Vladimir Kendrovski, Harry Kennard, Gregor Kiesewetter, Simon J Lloyd, Martin Lotto Batista, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza, Carles Milà, Jan C Minx, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Julia Palamarchuk, Marcos Quijal-Zamorano, Elizabeth J Z Robinson, Daniel Scamman, Oliver Schmoll, Maquins Odhiambo Sewe, Henrik Sjödin, Mikhail Sofiev, Balakrishnan Solaraju-Murali, Marco Springmann, Joaquin Triñanes, Josep M Anto, Maria Nilsson, Rachel Lowe, The 2022 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: towards a climate resilient future, The Lancet Public Health, Volume 7, Issue 11, 2022, Pages e942-e965,https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00197-9.
