How to achieve a healthier and more sustainable europe by 2040 according to the public? Results of a five-country questionnaire survey

The aim of this paper is to understand public preferences for several future scenarios of achieving a healthier, more equitable and sustainable Europe, which differ in the way the society is organized (individualistically vs. collectively) and in the driving sector (public vs. private). To achieve this aim, we conducted a questionnaire survey using representative samples for five European countries in 2018. About three thousand respondents chose among the four scenarios presented within four different contexts (green spaces, active mobility, energy-efficient housing, food consumption) or none of them. A majority of people in the five European countries were ready to accept one of the scenarios. We found significant differences in preferences according to socioeconomic backgrounds and values of respondents. People above 35 years old, those who were less educated, and those in the lowest household income tertile were less supportive of all scenarios. The heterogeneity in preferences associated with differences in socioeconomic backgrounds was larger for the scenario in which society is organized individualistically and driven by the private sector. Smaller distinctions were found in case of the scenario in which society is organized collectively and is driven by the public sector. Departing from social psychological theories, we examine the role of altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, hedonic, and security values. People with stronger biospheric values were more likely to accept scenarios, particularly those which are driven by the public sector and where there is more collective organisation. Those with a more egoistic value orientation were more likely to have higher preferences for scenarios where the private sector had a dominant role. The policy implications, in terms of the selection and framing of policy measures to enhance public support, are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Overcoming Public Resistance to Carbon Taxes

Carbon taxes represent a cost-effective way to steer the economy toward a greener future. In the real world, their application has however been limited. In this paper, we address one of the main obstacles to carbon taxes: public opposition. We identify drivers of and barriers to public support, and, under the form of stylized facts, provide general lessons on the acceptability of carbon taxes. We derive our lessons from a growing literature, as well as from a combination of policy “failures” and “successes.” Based on our stylized facts, we formulate a set of suggestions concerning the design of carbon taxes. We consider the use of trial periods, tax escalators, environmental earmarking, lump-sum transfers, tax rebates, and advanced communication strategies, among others. This paper contributes to the policy debate about carbon taxes, hopefully leading to more success stories and fewer policy failures

The INHERIT model: A tool to jointly improve health, environmental sustainability and health equity through behavior and lifestyle change

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordThe need for analysis and action across the interrelated domains of human behaviors and lifestyles, environmental sustainability, health and inequality is increasingly apparent. Currently, these areas are often not considered in conjunction when developing policies or interventions, introducing the potential for suboptimal or conflicting outcomes. The INHERIT model has been developed within the EU-funded project INHERIT as a tool to guide thinking and intersectoral action towards changing the behaviors and lifestyles that play such an important role in today’s multidisciplinary challenges. The model integrates ecological public health and behavioral change models, emphasizing inequalities and those parts of the causal process that are influenced by human behaviors and lifestyles. The model was developed through web-based and live discussions with experts and policy stakeholders. To test the model’s usability, the model was applied to aspects of food consumption. This paper shows that the INHERIT model can serve as a tool to identify opportunities for change in important −food-related behaviors and lifestyles and to examine how they impact on health, health inequalities, and the environment in Europe and beyond. The INHERIT model helps clarify these interrelated domains, creating new opportunities to improve environmental health and health inequality, while taking our planetary boundaries into consideration.European Union Horizon 202

Monetary Valuation of Health Risks of Heavy Metals: State-of-the-art and some gaps

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a fundamental part of modern decision-making process, in particular policies that affect releases, exposures or doses of pollutants including heavy metals. Traditionally, HIA focus is on risk assessment and securing safe levels of pollution exposure or dose. Only recently HIA has extended its focus to include evaluation of health effects in monetary terms that allows for a comprehensive Cost-Benefit Analysis, a widely used quantitative decision support tool to assess desirability of policies and projects based on economic rationale. The aim of this contribution is to review the state-of-the-art in valuation of health impacts related to heavy metals and discuss some gaps faced here. We start by introducing concept of risk in valuation literature, related mortality denominator, Value of Statistical Life (VSL) and difficulties in deriving values for chronic health conditions. We then overview valuation of various health outcomes in five broad impact categories – carcinogenicity, dose toxicity, sensitization, effects on fertility and developmental toxicity and discuss difficulties in translating risk assessment and toxicological research findings of human health effects of heavy metal exposure/dose to changes in welfare in such a way that is comprehensible for general population. We briefly examine and discuss numerous issues and gaps in establishing such links between exposure and welfare impacts in the context of a study commissioned by European Chemicals Agency. The study’s goal is to deliver EU-wide values of willingness to pay for avoiding adverse health outcomes due to exposure to chemicals. We emphasize the necessity of such discussion among experts from different areas for the results to be useful for decision-making related to regulation of (not only) heavy metals releases to the environment

Non-market impacts – health: Report D2.6 for the project CO‐designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs (COACCH)

This deliverable (D2.6) substantiates that part of the activity of COACCH Task 2.6 consisting in assessing and quantifying a set of selected health impact of climate change. Specifically the work focuses on: ‐ In addition to the warming caused by climate change, urban areas are expected to experience higher levels of warming due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which occurs because in urban areas natural land is replaced by materials that have higher heat capacities and thermal conductivity. We assessed the warming, including the UHI effect that can be experienced in European cities under scenarios of climate change and socio‐economic development (Part I). ‐ Climate change is expected to influence the frequency and severity of heat and cold stress, which has implications for human health and mortality. This study examines the impacts of climate change on future mortality in the Netherlands, and the related economic costs, while accounting for change in both cold and heat related mortality for different age classes, the time dynamics, demographic change, and additional local warming from the urban heat island effect. Results show that heat and cold impacts on mortality vary considerably between age classes, with older people being more vulnerable to temperature extremes (Part II).‐ Heatwave hotspot vulnerability mapping for major European urban areas is developed, by superposing different risk dimensions based on hazard, exposure and social vulnerability, including local warming from the urban heat island effect for the set of chosen socio‐economic/climate scenarios in WP1. This conceptual framework is applied to map heatwaves episodes in Europe at the spatial resolution of 1/8 degree (Part III). ‐ New VSL estimates for fatal events due to heatwaves that will be quantified by conducting specific discrete choice stated preference survey in Spain and in the United Kingdom. Then, tick‐borne diseases, a key risk for Europe, focusing on the welfare impacts of lyme borreliosis and tick‐borne encephalitis. An on‐line survey will be conducted in order to elicit revealed preferences (averting behavior) as well as stated preferences. The survey will be implemented in three countries with higher exposure, namely in the Czech Rep, Slovakia, and Austria. (Part IV). According to the original plan, the results of the two valuation surveys on premature mortality and tick‐borne disease were planned by month 22. Due to unsuccessful first round of tender, the original plan could not be followed and the task completion needs to be postponed. Specifically, despite the fact that a tender on the data collection was issued in early May, following the internal time plan, and although five to seven professional companies were contacted in each country to submit their bids, no bid was received from three out of five countries in which the survey is planned (Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom). The tender process had to be formally closed and a new tender had to be opened, following the internal rules of Charles University, which took more than two additional months. To solve this unexpected obstacle, a new time‐plan has been prepared and internally approved. Following this revised time‐plan, the task related to valuation of premature mortality and tick‐born disease is due to March 2020, i.e. month 28 of the COACCH project. For that reason, this report presents ongoing research. A literature review on health impacts due to extreme weather (e.g. extreme temperatures and heat stress) and vector‐, water‐ and food‐borne diseases, as well as on the metrics that can be used to provide an economic valuation of these impacts ‐ e.g. Quality‐of‐life specific indicators, Willingness To Pay values, Cost‐Of‐Illness components, Value of Statistical Life will be appending to the survey results in March 2020; Projected burden of heat stress on mortality in Europe over the period 2030–2099 under various RCPs climate change scenarios is estimated. Contrast to the previous work, in particular done within the PESETA projects, other factors affecting heat‐related mortality are considered

Non-market impacts – health:Report D2.6 for the project CO‐designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs (COACCH)

This deliverable (D2.6) substantiates that part of the activity of COACCH Task 2.6 consisting in assessing and quantifying a set of selected health impact of climate change. Specifically the work focuses on: ‐ In addition to the warming caused by climate change, urban areas are expected to experience higher levels of warming due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which occurs because in urban areas natural land is replaced by materials that have higher heat capacities and thermal conductivity. We assessed the warming, including the UHI effect that can be experienced in European cities under scenarios of climate change and socio‐economic development (Part I). ‐ Climate change is expected to influence the frequency and severity of heat and cold stress, which has implications for human health and mortality. This study examines the impacts of climate change on future mortality in the Netherlands, and the related economic costs, while accounting for change in both cold and heat related mortality for different age classes, the time dynamics, demographic change, and additional local warming from the urban heat island effect. Results show that heat and cold impacts on mortality vary considerably between age classes, with older people being more vulnerable to temperature extremes (Part II).‐ Heatwave hotspot vulnerability mapping for major European urban areas is developed, by superposing different risk dimensions based on hazard, exposure and social vulnerability, including local warming from the urban heat island effect for the set of chosen socio‐economic/climate scenarios in WP1. This conceptual framework is applied to map heatwaves episodes in Europe at the spatial resolution of 1/8 degree (Part III). ‐ New VSL estimates for fatal events due to heatwaves that will be quantified by conducting specific discrete choice stated preference survey in Spain and in the United Kingdom. Then, tick‐borne diseases, a key risk for Europe, focusing on the welfare impacts of lyme borreliosis and tick‐borne encephalitis. An on‐line survey will be conducted in order to elicit revealed preferences (averting behavior) as well as stated preferences. The survey will be implemented in three countries with higher exposure, namely in the Czech Rep, Slovakia, and Austria. (Part IV). According to the original plan, the results of the two valuation surveys on premature mortality and tick‐borne disease were planned by month 22. Due to unsuccessful first round of tender, the original plan could not be followed and the task completion needs to be postponed. Specifically, despite the fact that a tender on the data collection was issued in early May, following the internal time plan, and although five to seven professional companies were contacted in each country to submit their bids, no bid was received from three out of five countries in which the survey is planned (Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom). The tender process had to be formally closed and a new tender had to be opened, following the internal rules of Charles University, which took more than two additional months. To solve this unexpected obstacle, a new time‐plan has been prepared and internally approved. Following this revised time‐plan, the task related to valuation of premature mortality and tick‐born disease is due to March 2020, i.e. month 28 of the COACCH project. For that reason, this report presents ongoing research. A literature review on health impacts due to extreme weather (e.g. extreme temperatures and heat stress) and vector‐, water‐ and food‐borne diseases, as well as on the metrics that can be used to provide an economic valuation of these impacts ‐ e.g. Quality‐of‐life specific indicators, Willingness To Pay values, Cost‐Of‐Illness components, Value of Statistical Life will be appending to the survey results in March 2020; Projected burden of heat stress on mortality in Europe over the period 2030–2099 under various RCPs climate change scenarios is estimated. Contrast to the previous work, in particular done within the PESETA projects, other factors affecting heat‐related mortality are considered