Funded under the Horizon 2020 program, TRIGGER (SoluTions foR mItiGatinG climate-induced hEalth thReats) is project aimed at studying the link between human health, ecosystems and climate, with the goal of providing tools and knowledge to help strengthen surveillance and risk assessment. The project started in September 2022 and will end in March 2026. The project started in September 2022 and will finisch in March 2026.
As numerous studies, as well as IPCC assessments, highlight, climate change is progressing despite mitigation efforts put in place by the European Union. Among their impacts are those on human health: in fact, WHO estimates that by 2030 there will be between 1.7 and 4 billion people affected by the direct harms of climate change, such as those from heat waves and droughts. The aim of TRIGGER project is to identify, quantify and monitor the impacts of climate change-related environmental risks on human health through the direct collection of health, weather-climate, environmental and socio-economic data with user-friendly tools (such as sensors, simplified models and data hubs). The project brings together 22 partners from 15 different countries, forming an interdisciplinary consortium, and has five main objectives: strengthening knowledge on the relationship between climate change and human health; a systemic study of the costs, benefits and risks of climate change impacts and related adaptation and mitigation measures; supporting policy makers and health authorities by providing guidelines based on robust scientific evidence; improving monitoring and prediction systems for health impacts due to climate events; and, finally, raising awareness and awareness on these issues, combined with the promotion of effective practices for risk reduction. TRIGGER also intends to develop five innovative laboratories in Europe on the relationship between climate and health (Climate-Health Connection Labs), involving citizens, policymakers, and health, environmental, and climate practitioners.
Within TRIGGER, CIMA Research Foundation is tasked with identifying the most appropriate indicators to describe and assess the relationship between climate change, health, and socio-economic systems based on the data that emerged during the studies conducted by the project. In addition, we will create an inventory of available monitoring and modeling tools useful for historical analysis, future projections, and medium-term forecasts of hazards due to climate change. CIMA Research Foundation is also responsible for the Citizen Observatory archive, which will be the basis for processing, quality control and access to health and climate observations. We are also responsible for creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) to support the lifecycle of all data that will be collected, processed, or generated by the project, particularly climate and environmental data (while the University of Bologna is responsible for health data).
We are also involved in several other tasks of the project, including, for example, building a framework for identifying, monitoring, and quantifying data on exposure and health impacts; analyzing and researching climate services that have applications in health to identify best practices; and analyzing the ethical aspects of working with citizens and younger people; in supporting the Climate-Health Connection Labs by providing weather and climate data; in designing a hydrometeorological forecasting system for short to sub-seasonal time scales for climate variables and health impact indicators; in analyzing decadal forecasts and the medium- to long-term evolution of climate conditions hazardous to human health.