SECTORS: CLIMATE CHANGE, PUBLIC HEALTH

Challenge:

Help the City of Austin assess the public health co-benefits and co-harms associated with climate change policies.

Solution:

• Perform a regional scan to identify the most significant climate-related environmental public health hazards in Central Texas.

• Build capacity and interdepartmental cooperation around the links between climate change and health.

• Create an environmental public health indicators tool linking environmental, health, vulnerability, and policy data on specific climate-related hazards to inform policy decisions and build public awareness.

• Identify the vulnerable populations and public policies most relevant for public health input.

Services:

CONSULTING

• Project development and overall management.

• Group facilitation.

• Developed five step methodology to integrate regional public health priorities into climate change policies and interventions.

• Established and integrated environmental public health indicators into the climate protection program.

• Facilitated coordination among environmental sustainability, climate change, and public health programs and initiatives.

• Evaluate and provide recommendations for prioritizing climate change mitigation strategies that improve public health.

• Graphic design.

• Grant writing.

APPLIED RESEARCH

• Gap analysis and needs assessment for the health department and other key stakeholders within the City of Austin.

• Developed policy recommendations and talking points on the value of considering the public health co-benefits and co-harms of climate change policies.

• Progress and program summary reports targeted to stakeholders, the City of Austin, and the general public.

• Co-authored five articles submitted to peer-reviewed journals.

TRAINING

• Design, developed, and delivered internal trainings to stakeholders and health department managers.

• Designed and developed a health module for the Austin Climate Protection Program City staff training program.

Client:

Austin/Travis County Department of Health and Human Services; Austin Climate Protection Program Funding: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Climate Change Program; National Association of County and City Health Officials; fellow project under Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Environmental Health Services Branch.