A.10. Round Table: A Just Transition for a Healthy Society: Leveraging Co-benefits to Build Sustainable Resilience
Abstract
A just transition towards a net-zero economy is considered a fundamental step in protecting natural ecosystems and delivering economic security. However, despite public health and wellbeing also standing to gain significantly from the green transition, its health co-benefits have been interrogated and leveraged in research and policy to a much lesser extent. Moreover, the distribution of co-benefits and climate-related health outcomes remains profoundly unequal. This roundtable discussion focuses on the health co-benefits of a just green transition and what health equity looks like under such a transition. It will examine the importance of equitably distributed health co-benefits and how to achieve them, interrogate how to strategically leverage them for action, and define their role in building long-standing economic and societal resilience by way of achieving better health for all. In light of the current EU priorities, the session will explore decarbonisation as a policy lever not only for transitioning to low-carbon economies but also for boosting preventive health, strengthening resilience to climate change at the individual, community and health systems levels, and promoting health equity. The discussion will provide insights on the alignment needed between climate adaptive and mitigation efforts in order to ensure the best possible health outcomes for all.
Dr. Panteli will highlight the comprehensive body of work of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies at the intersection of climate change and healthcare sustainability. The dual synergies of health and environmental co-benefits alongside practical organisational strategies designed to reduce the environmental footprint of health service delivery will be explored. Dr. Panteli will also discuss how environmental considerations can be integrated into Health System Performance Assessment. Additionally, she will share insights from EU-funded resilience-testing for health systems, including implications of climate change as a stressor, and where reflections on how adaptation measures can incorporate mitigation objectives are relevant. Dr. Murphy will contribute to the discussion by speaking to the health aspects of the European Group on Ethics (EGE) opinion titled ‘Towards a Just Green Transition: Addressing structural inequities’. The Opinion was requested to provide guidance in the context of the Commission’s decarbonisation policies. The knowledge collated and generated by the European Climate and Health Observatory shows that simultaneous delivery of mitigation, adaptation, and health objectives is possible. This can be done through certain solutions, e.g. building renovations or energy use optimisation, as well as urban greening providing cooling and encouraging walking and cycling. There are persistent inequalities related to exposure to and impact of climate-related hazards. Lower income groups, renters, people managing health conditions and those of migrant background tend to be disproportionately exposed or affected. Many of those groups also have lower levels of preparedness to climate change. The ability to adapt to heat at household level is affected by affordability of cooling, which in turn is linked to energy prices. The 2026 EEA-Eurofound report showed that 38% of respondents to an online survey were not able to afford keeping their home cool in the summer. Switching to renewable-based energy away from fossil fuel sources improves affordability and equity. The European Climate and Health Observatory supports action by bringing together examples of solutions, and awareness raising and capacity building among the relevant stakeholders. Mr. Mulet Indrayanti will act as moderator for the roundtable. He is a Policy Officer working on Environment, Climate and Health issues at DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission. Health co-benefits of European climate policy accrue via diverse pathways, many of which are understudied. These co-benefits provide an important framing that is more likely to build support for mitigation actions compared to other frames. In this panel, Dr. Tonne will expand on these ideas and explain why we need an improved framework for thinking about health co-benefits, as outlined in her 2025 publication ‘Promoting health through climate change mitigation in Europe’ published on Lancet Planet Health.
Key messages: • The distribution of the health co-benefits of climate action is profoundly unequal and action to deliver them must be just and address structural inequities, both existing and new.
• Putting health at the core of climate action means aligning adaptation and mitigation efforts to protect public health and deliver the best possible health outcomes.
Speakers/Panellists: Dimitra Panteli
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Berlin, Germany
Thérèse Murphy
Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK
Aleksandra Kazmierczak
European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark
Alex Mulet Indrayanti
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium
Cathryn Tonne
Barcelona Institute for Global Health - ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
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BibTeX
@article{commission2026round,
title = {{A.10. Round Table: A Just Transition for a Healthy Society: Leveraging Co-benefits to Build Sustainable Resilience}},
author = {DG RTD - European Commission and Alex Mulet Indrayanti and Rita Araujo},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.542},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.542},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A.10. Round Table: A Just Transition for a Healthy Society: Leveraging Co-benefits to Build Sustainable Resilience
AU - DG RTD - European Commission
AU - Alex Mulet Indrayanti
AU - Rita Araujo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.542
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.542
AB - A just transition towards a net-zero economy is considered a fundamental step in protecting natural ecosystems and delivering economic security. However, despite public health and wellbeing also standing to gain significantly from the green transition, its health co-benefits have been interrogated and leveraged in research and policy to a much lesser extent. Moreover, the distribution of co-benefits and climate-related health outcomes remains profoundly unequal. This roundtable discussion focuses on the health co-benefits of a just green transition and what health equity looks like under such a transition. It will examine the importance of equitably distributed health co-benefits and how to achieve them, interrogate how to strategically leverage them for action, and define their role in building long-standing economic and societal resilience by way of achieving better health for all. In light of the current EU priorities, the session will explore decarbonisation as a policy lever not only for transitioning to low-carbon economies but also for boosting preventive health, strengthening resilience to climate change at the individual, community and health systems levels, and promoting health equity. The discussion will provide insights on the alignment needed between climate adaptive and mitigation efforts in order to ensure the best possible health outcomes for all. Dr. Panteli will highlight the comprehensive body of work of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies at the intersection of climate change and healthcare sustainability. The dual synergies of health and environmental co-benefits alongside practical organisational strategies designed to reduce the environmental footprint of health service delivery will be explored. Dr. Panteli will also discuss how environmental considerations can be integrated into Health System Performance Assessment. Additionally, she will share insights from EU-funded resilience-testing for health systems, including implications of climate change as a stressor, and where reflections on how adaptation measures can incorporate mitigation objectives are relevant. Dr. Murphy will contribute to the discussion by speaking to the health aspects of the European Group on Ethics (EGE) opinion titled ‘Towards a Just Green Transition: Addressing structural inequities’. The Opinion was requested to provide guidance in the context of the Commission’s decarbonisation policies. The knowledge collated and generated by the European Climate and Health Observatory shows that simultaneous delivery of mitigation, adaptation, and health objectives is possible. This can be done through certain solutions, e.g. building renovations or energy use optimisation, as well as urban greening providing cooling and encouraging walking and cycling. There are persistent inequalities related to exposure to and impact of climate-related hazards. Lower income groups, renters, people managing health conditions and those of migrant background tend to be disproportionately exposed or affected. Many of those groups also have lower levels of preparedness to climate change. The ability to adapt to heat at household level is affected by affordability of cooling, which in turn is linked to energy prices. The 2026 EEA-Eurofound report showed that 38% of respondents to an online survey were not able to afford keeping their home cool in the summer. Switching to renewable-based energy away from fossil fuel sources improves affordability and equity. The European Climate and Health Observatory supports action by bringing together examples of solutions, and awareness raising and capacity building among the relevant stakeholders. Mr. Mulet Indrayanti will act as moderator for the roundtable. He is a Policy Officer working on Environment, Climate and Health issues at DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission. Health co-benefits of European climate policy accrue via diverse pathways, many of which are understudied. These co-benefits provide an important framing that is more likely to build support for mitigation actions compared to other frames. In this panel, Dr. Tonne will expand on these ideas and explain why we need an improved framework for thinking about health co-benefits, as outlined in her 2025 publication ‘Promoting health through climate change mitigation in Europe’ published on Lancet Planet Health. Key messages: • The distribution of the health co-benefits of climate action is profoundly unequal and action to deliver them must be just and address structural inequities, both existing and new. • Putting health at the core of climate action means aligning adaptation and mitigation efforts to protect public health and deliver the best possible health outcomes. Speakers/Panellists: Dimitra Panteli European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Berlin, Germany Thérèse Murphy Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK Aleksandra Kazmierczak European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark Alex Mulet Indrayanti Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium Cathryn Tonne Barcelona Institute for Global Health - ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -