Climate "Health and equity co-benefits to support climate change response plans in Italy"

Ongoing climate change is already causing significant impacts on populations, ecosystems, economies, and infrastructure. In the absence of measures to reduce emissions and/or increase greenhouse gas absorption, future scenarios predict a further rise in temperature as well as a higher frequency of extreme hydro-meteorological and climatic events, with even greater risks to human health.

Urban planning, sustainable transport systems, the expansion of green spaces and tree cover, the widespread adoption of nature-based solutions, the use of renewable energy sources, changes in food production, and the reduction of food waste all contribute significantly to reducing emissions and the impacts of climate change, especially in urban contexts, while providing important co-benefits for the environment and human health.

The PNC project “Health and equity co-benefits in support of climate change response plans in Italy” aims to provide useful guidance for achieving international sustainable development targets and to support mitigation and adaptation policies for climate change in Italian cities. It promotes a health- and equity-centered approach in the planning of local policies and interventions, based on the direct and indirect co-benefits for human health and on the reduction of social and gender inequalities.

This multidisciplinary approach stems from the collaboration of various institutions in the health and environmental sectors, universities, citizen representatives, and local authorities from Lazio, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Apulia, and Sicily, coordinated by the Department of Epidemiology of the Lazio Regional Health Service (ASL Roma 1).

The project activities carried out by ISPRA are structured around several thematic areas: climate knowledge and its variations, adaptation to climate change, the role of urban green spaces and nature-based solutions, and sustainable mobility.

On these topics, environmental education and training activities are conducted in schools and universities, as well as through additional initiatives involving students, researchers, and local institutions. Within this framework, short informational videos have also been produced to illustrate the project’s content to students, featuring interviews in which young people engage in dialogue with experts on the environmental issues addressed during the lessons.