TRIGGER

In spite of the ambitious mitigation efforts set out globally and addressed by initiatives of the European Commission, climate change is under way and intensifying (IPCC, 2021). According to WHO estimates, the direct damage by impacts of climate change on human health is between 1.7 and 4 billion ? by 2030. The aim and ambition of TRIGGER are to deepen current understanding of the linkage between climate, health and ecosystems (exposome framework) and to use this knowledge to advance society uptake at personal and policy level. To meet the ambition, TRIGGER will commit an interdisciplinary consortium of 22 partners in 15 countries that will develop an outreaching clinical study composed by a multi-dimensional approach that capitalizes also on existing retrospective studies and will build an international climate service for global health protection, in line with COPERNICUS initiatives. TRIGGER strategy is grounded on three pillars: i) trans-disciplinary investigations to build up systemic knowledge ii) integration and usability of research results and iii) development of practical know-how and workable tools to monitor, predict and mitigate risks for human health connected to climate change. The proposal is designed around the creation of 5 newly conceived Climate-Health Connection Labs in Europe that engage citizens, practitioners and policy-makers in a co-creation process. The approach will target areas exposed to adverse impacts of climate change, such as increased heat waves, air pollution and droughts, and will address key health issues such as cardio-vascular diseases, respiratory diseases and UV exposure. By overcoming heterogeneous technological and methodological challenges, TRIGGER will provide exploitable tools to strengthen surveillance mechanisms and risk assessment, to translate robust evidence of climate-environment-health relationships into actionable information and guidelines, to identify and prioritise cost-effective policies and actions.