The CATALYSE Project Kicks Off in Barcelona

Climate change is one of the greatest threats humanity faces today. Although science has provided evidence of the risks for three decades, so far the policy response to reduce these risks has been inadequate. In order to catalyse climate action in Europe to protect public health, the CATALYSE project was officially launched at a kick-off meeting on 10-11 October 2022 in Barcelona.

CATALYSE is a five-year project coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe programme, with co-funding from UK Research and Innovation and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation. CATALYSE has a budget of 10.3 million euros and involves 21 partners from 12 European countries. 

The overarching goal of CATALYSE is to provide new knowledge, data, and tools on:

• the relationships between changes in environmental hazards caused by climate change, ecosystems, and human health; 
• the health co-benefits of climate action; 
• the role of health evidence in decision making;
• the societal implications of climate change for health systems.

This will be achieved through five specific objectives:

1. To develop an integrated indicator framework and repository to track the status of health-relevant outcomes of climate actions.
2. To quantify the health co-benefits and full social and environmental costs and benefits resulting from mitigation measures outside of the health sector.
3. To develop innovative surveillance and forecasting tools that facilitate effective response to environmental health hazards (e.g. heat stress, allergenic pollen) caused by climate change and the design, monitoring and evaluation of interventions to mitigate climate change.
4. To investigate how stakeholders engage with evidence regarding the health impacts of climate change, and to develop strategies and tools to facilitate engagement.
5. To provide evidence and training on the most effective strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation for health systems, with specific focus on vulnerable populations including those occupationally exposed to hazards induced by climate change.

CATALYSE is part of the European cluster on climate change and health, along with five other projects on climate change funded by the Horizon Europe programme.