Predicting for how climate-related events impact health | 3/24/2024

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In this week’s newsletter, we’ll be covering another whitespace that we see for builders, makers and entrepreneurs to build climate health solutions. The opportunity: How can we better predict for how climate-related events impact care delivery and our individual health?

Whitespace: Predictive analytics for climate and health

In a single year, ten climate-related events were estimated to cost the U.S. $10 billion. That includes costs associated with 900 deaths, 20,000 hospitalizations, 18,000 emergency room visits, and countless supply chain disruptions. In 2023, there were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, tallying a price tag of at least $92.9 billion.

Reference: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/

Predictive analytics solutions — which raised $267 million in funding last year — have immense potential to help healthcare orgs build resilience by forecasting future trends and scenarios, assessing and managing risk, and making better decisions. There’s abundant datasets and AI/ML advancements that can help public health departments prepare for the next outbreaks, procurement and emergency preparedness leads forecast for the next disruptions, and facilities managers plan for their next capital investments. However, as it currently stands, environmental health data, healthcare system data, and public health data tend tolive in separate, siloed systems. There is a growing demand from healthcare professional and the public to have insights and resources into how climate events may impact health. 

A case study: The City of Boston developed a model that can be used to simulate the impact of different storm events on Boston’s stormwater system, identify areas that are most vulnerable to flooding, and to develop strategies to mitigate those risks. This model takes from hard-won lessons of other cities like New York, which faced $3.1 billion in healthcare damages due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy, where four hospitals’ ER and inpatient operations had to shut down for over a month. And is now being adopted in other cities like Charleston to help understand adaptive capacities to floods and identify communities with limited resources.

Other news

  • The WHO launched a toolkit for health professionals on communicating about climate change and health. (WHO)

  • A new study published in Nature Food, finds that if people swap red and processed meat for plant protein a few times a week, it's good for their health – and can also reduce their diet-related carbon footprint. (NPR)

  • Heat pumps are crucial for Colorado's climate and public health, as seen by a physician in the Denver area who witnessed the harmful effects of extreme temperatures on her community. (Colorado Newsline)

  • Earth Day is on April 22nd. A wide range of resources can be found here. (Earthday.org)

  • The EPA has enacted stricter emission standards for new vehicles to cut greenhouse gases and pollutants, aiming to reduce carbon emissions by over 7 billion tons and yield $13 billion in annual health benefits. (EPA.gov)

Events & opportunities

Other events and opportunities in the coming weeks:

  • Webinar: Supporting local climate adaptation and health using LCAT by Green Futures Network, Virtual webinar. Link to sign up here. 

  • Health, Healthcare And... Climate Action Conference by NYU Langone Health, New York including CHILL co-founder Chethan Sarabu as a speaker. Link to sign up here.

  • San Francisco Climate Week is taking place April 21-27, 2024. Find out more here.

  • ICLR is accepting applications now for their 2024 workshop “Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning.” Find out more here.

  • On April 16th, the VA and the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program is hosting a training webinar on healthcare decarbonization, detailing technologies for EO 14057 compliance and hospital-specific challenges. Learn more and register here.

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