Exposure to heat and air pollution in EUrope – cardiopulmonary impacts and benefits of mitigation and adaptation (EXHAUSTION)

Summary

The EXHAUSTION project aims to quantify the changes in cardiopulmonary mortality and morbidity due to extreme heat and air pollution (including from wildfires) under selected climate scenarios while including a diverse set of adaptation mechanisms and strategies, calculate the associated costs, and identify effective strategies for minimizing adverse impacts. The results will be disseminated to the general public and key decision- and policy-makers across Europe, providing a tool to increase European resilience towards climate change.

The epidemiological study consists of analyses on three distinct levels (multi-city, small-area, individual), which  will complement each other and provide a rich and comprehensive picture of epidemiological associations between environmental thermal and/or air pollution stressors and human health (i.e. exposure-response), coupled with quantitative evidence on a broad spectrum of potential effect modifiers enhancing or reducing vulnerability of such risks.