ECHO2: Knowledge support for the European Climate and Health Observatory

The European Climate and Health Observatory was launched in 2021 by the European Commission and the European Environmental Agency (EEA) as a means to facilitate the “smarter adaptation” called for in the Communication ‘Forging a climate-resilient Europe – the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ (COM/2021/82 final). This strategy outlines a long-term vision for the European Union to become a climate-resilient society, fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change by 2050. The European Climate Law formalizes the role of the Observatory to “better understand, anticipate and minimize the health threats caused by climate change.”

To support Europe in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change on human health, as well as to mitigate the impact of health systems on climate change, the Observatory provides access to relevant information and tools, and fosters information exchange and cooperation between relevant actors.

Duration
12 months from 01/01/2026 to 31/12/2026

Website:
https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/observatory

Funded by

EEA - European Environment Agency

Coordinating organization

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici

CMCC Scientific Leader

Johnson Katie

CMCC Project manager

Carraro Enrico

CMCC Institutes

European Institute on Economics and the Environment

CMCC Divisions

Economic analysis of Climate Impacts and Policy Division

General aims

The main objective is to support the development of new knowledge for the European Climate and Health Observatory and the EEA’s forthcoming 2026 European climate and health assessment report.

Activities will align with the Observatory Workplan 2025-2026, where the main focus is on connections between people’s health and nature under the changing climate.

CMCC role
CMCC is the coordinator of the project consortium. Additionally, CMCC coordinates the European Topic Centre on Climate change adaptation and LULUCF (ETC-CA) for the period 2022-2026. Within ETC-CA, CMCC contributes to Climate-ADAPT, with the Observatory serving as its extension.

Activities
CMCC is responsible for project management (Task 0), extraction of information from the 2025 country reporting (Task 1), extraction of the nature-climate-health theme from national reporting (Task 2), tracking progress in adaptation to climate change impacts on health in country reporting (Task 3), collation of evidence on climate change impacts on distribution of allergenic and venomous plant and animal species and the associated burden of disease (Task 4), collation of evidence on the trade-offs of nature-based solutions for health and how they can be managed (Task 5), and the development of 3 case studies of solutions on the theme climate change-nature-health (Task 6).

Expected results
The project will support:

the development of new knowledge for the European Climate and Health Observatory;
the development of the EEA’s 2026 European climate and health assessment report;
the agreement between DG SANTE and the EEA to facilitate the integration of climate data into the surveillance and modelling of vector- and food-borne diseases and carry out analyses of the seasonality of diseases in the context of climate change;
the development of knowledge on the associations between climate change, nature and human health;
the analysis of national adaptation policies in relation to health;
the analysis of the relationship between climate variability and incidence of vector-borne diseases.

Partners
Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC), Spain