Biden administration to write workplace safety rule tackling heat stress. Read more
Workplace heat protections across the globe. Read more
Three new heatwave hotspots in India put large population at immediate health risk. Read more
Why the health risks of overheating go unnoticed. Read more
Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms. Read more
U.K. launches Green Jobs Taskforce aiming for 2 million green jobs by 2030. Read more
Costs and job impacts of Green Recovery and Just Transition program from Ohio, Pennsylvania. Read more
Two reports forecast milions of new jobs based on Sierra Club proposal for green investment. Read more
Employment and job loss experience of Canada's oil and gas, coal workers. Read more
Job creation is a co-benefit of reducing air pollution. Read more
Updating job proposals for a green recovery: Canada, U.S., Europe. Read more
Cooling industry supports fight against COVID-19, steps up climate action. Read more
May 2020: Global temperatures tie for record hottest. Read more
How challenging climate change will have profound benefits for public health. Read more
Deadly heat is killing Americans. Read more
I am a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet. Read more
How to improve zero carbon skills amongst architects, engineers and renewable nergy specialists. Read more
Coal-mining closures and energy transitions - impacts on women, youth, and communities. Read more
Blue skies from locked-down are fleeting - we still need strong policies to reduce carbon emissions. Read more
Global warming could see number of days too hot to work outside nearly DOUBLE to 39, by 2050 - posing a dire threat to agriculture industry. Read more
342,000 jobs by 2040 in zero electric vehicle production in Canada. Read more
Banks, fossil fuels, and a collapsing gas and oil industry. Read more
How to decarbonize global industry and achieve Paris targets. Read more
The toll of Australia's Black Summer of bushfires. Read more
Can the fight against COVID-19 help the climate change fight? Read more
Australia Senate Committee Report shows a green economy is possible. Read more
Visions for green steel production in Canada and internationally. Read more
UK researchers call for absolute zero reduction policy, greening of the steel industry. Read more
UK energy force will need 400,000 workers to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Read more
Climate change & health. U.K. National Health Sercive launches new campaign for greaner health care; more medical associations divest from fossil fuels. Link Read more
High Ambient Temperatures and Risk of Motor Vehicle Crashes in Catalonia, Spain. Link here.
Uruguay makes dramatic shift to nearly 95% electricity from clean energy. Link here..
Wages set to fall unless warming is tackled. Link here.
Climate Central’s Program on Sea Level Rise strives to provide accurate, clear and granular information about sea level rise and coastal flood hazards both locally and globally, today and tomorrow. See excellent maps here.
WHO calls for urgent action to protect health from climate change. See here.
Over 1700 health organizations, 8200 hospitals and health facilities, and 13 million health professionals call on governments to reach a strong agreement at the UN climate negotiations to protect the health of patients and the public, see here and here.
Highlighting Co-Benefits could motivate action on climate change: a new paper in Nature Climate Change, some commentary here.
2014 the hottest year on record
The average global temperature is going up and 2014 was recently concluded to be the hottest year since records began.
2014 the hottest year on record
The average global temperature is going up and 2014 was recently concluded to be the hottest year since records began. Article
Assessment for WHO of Occupational Heat Stress now on ClimateCHIP
The Hothaps team prepared some time ago a health impact assessment of Occupational Heat Stress for the WHO project on "Quantitative Risk Assessment of the health effects of Climate Change". The Final WHO report on this project was limited to Mortality estimates, and the Occupational Heat Stress section was not included there. However, it has now been published as Technical Report 2014:4 on the ClimateCHIP website.
COP20 in Lima highlights importance of health
During the climate change policy meeting in Lima in December the importance of analyzing and acting on public health threats from climate change was stressed. Article
Tony McMichael dies: a tragic loss for the global climate change and health community
Professor Emeritus Tony McMichael passed away on 26 September 2014 after a short period of serious illness and a week before his 72nd birthday. He was an eminent epidemiologist with a long career in public health research, teaching and advocacy. His work included studies of nutritional, occupational and environmental health issues, and during the last 20 years at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Australian National University he focused on the major global health risks of the emerging climate change. The first detailed analysis of climate change impacts on public health was published in 1996 by WHO with Tony as the main author. After that he published numerous research papers on the topic and headed further global analysis reports, which provide much of the evidence for our current understanding of climate change impacts on health. Tony inspired me and helped develop the Hothaps program. He sat next to me at an IPCC meeting in New Delhi in 1999 when we realized that the occupational health hazards of climate change were until then totally overlooked in the global discourse. Tony was a good friend and colleague during many years and will be sorely missed.
Tord Kjellstrom
Hothaps paper published during UN climate summit
On the 23rd September, the United Nations held a major climate change policy meeting in New York,wherea large number of presidents of countries made speeches promoting global and local actions to curb climate change. A key background document was a Commission report on “The New Climate Economy”. This report estimated that the economic benefits of climate change mitigation justify major investments in alternative energy production. However, reduced labor productivity impacts that the Hothaps program focuses on, were not addressed. Increased workplace heat exposures are not just a health problem, but may also lead to trillions of dollars of foregone economic outputs around the world. A comment based on recent research was published in the United Nations University “Our World” journal: website
Report on climate change economic impact on the USA
A report from the Risky Business organization published in June has quantified the potential economic impacts of climate change on the USA. Labor productivity loss (a key ClimateCHIP issue) has been given its own section. Full Report
Press Release: Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology
Heat Stress Research Aimed at Helping Workers. A team of Nelson-based researchers hopes their work will one day lead to improvements in the lives of workers in some of the world’s hottest places. The Hothaps research team is led by Professor Tord Kjellstrom and includes Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) tutors Bruno Lemke and Matthias Otto as well as Drs Olivia Hyatt, Chris Freyberg and Dave Briggs. Full Press Release.
Collection of scientific papers on Workplace Heat and Occupational Health
The Journal Industrial Health (from the Japan National Institute of Occupational Health) published in February 2013 a series of papers on this topic with climate change impacts as a common theme. The papers highlight the need to assess and act on workplace heat as a health challenge as the climate gets hotter in already hot places around the world. Free Papers.
Global and national analysis of impacts and costs of climate change
A major report on this topic was published late in 2012: the Climate Vulnerability Monitor, 2012. It contains the first ever comprehensive analysis by country of both health and other impacts and the likely related costs in US$ PPP. It concludes that the costliest effect of climate change already in 2030 may be the loss of labor productivity due to increasing heat in workplaces. Full Report.