G.11. Scientific session: Climate change and environmental impacts on mental health: protecting people, services and workforce
Abstract
Background: European evidence is growing on links between pollution exposure and depression, anxiety and other mental health outcomes, while their pathways and causality patterns require continued research. In addition, rising temperatures create compound risks for people with mental disorders and for the psychiatric and psychosocial workforce that supports them, with implications also for productivity, service preparedness and occupational health. In the general population, youth may be disproportionately affected via climate-related distress, yet monitoring data and actionable prevention approaches are still limited.
Objectives: This workshop will (1) summarise emerging European evidence on pollution and mental health and discuss policy levers; (2) present the Austrian PARAHSOHL case study on heat-related impacts in psychosocial/psychiatric care with a workforce focus (3) introduce new monitoring evidence on youth climate anxiety (Dutch validation of the Hogg Climate Anxiety Scale in a representative sample, N = 5,399, ages 12–25) and modifiable correlates for prevention; and (4) synthesise lessons from WHO/Europe’s mapping of interventions addressing climate-related mental health outcomes (20 interventions across 15 countries) and translate them into practical cross-sector policy steps spanning promotion/prevention to curative responses, with attention to vulnerable populations; and (5) integrate a health economics lens to identify the cost of inaction and value-for-money considerations of prevention, nature-based solutions and workforce protections.
Added value and coherence: By linking upstream environmental exposures (pollution), health-system and workforce resilience to heat in psychiatric/psychosocial settings, life-course monitoring of climate-related distress, and “what works” policy lessons from WHO/Europe, the workshop moves beyond describing associations to identifying implementable levers for prioritising interventions, and embedding mental health indicators in environmental and health surveillance.
Format: Three 8–10 minute presentations followed by a 30-minute interactive segment. Participants will discuss priorities among policy levers and debate economic, health-related and social aspects of public mental health; outputs will be consolidated in plenary into a shared ‘Top 5’ agenda for European practice and EUPHA section collaboration.
Key messages: • Pollution, heat and climate distress threaten mental health, productivity and equity, calling for interdisciplinary action, incl. nature-based solutions and occupational health.
• Children and adolescents face mental health harms from air pollution, noise, chemicals and climate anxiety; extend interventions on climate emotions into life-course monitoring and prevention.
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BibTeX
@article{austriannationalpublichealthinstituteaustria2026scientific,
title = {{G.11. Scientific session: Climate change and environmental impacts on mental health: protecting people, services and workforce}},
author = {Austrian National Public Health Institute (Austria), WHO/Europe, European Environment Agency and Andrea Schmidt and João Vasco Santos},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.615},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.615},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - G.11. Scientific session: Climate change and environmental impacts on mental health: protecting people, services and workforce
AU - Austrian National Public Health Institute (Austria), WHO/Europe, European Environment Agency
AU - Andrea Schmidt
AU - João Vasco Santos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.615
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.615
AB - Background: European evidence is growing on links between pollution exposure and depression, anxiety and other mental health outcomes, while their pathways and causality patterns require continued research. In addition, rising temperatures create compound risks for people with mental disorders and for the psychiatric and psychosocial workforce that supports them, with implications also for productivity, service preparedness and occupational health. In the general population, youth may be disproportionately affected via climate-related distress, yet monitoring data and actionable prevention approaches are still limited. Objectives: This workshop will (1) summarise emerging European evidence on pollution and mental health and discuss policy levers; (2) present the Austrian PARAHSOHL case study on heat-related impacts in psychosocial/psychiatric care with a workforce focus (3) introduce new monitoring evidence on youth climate anxiety (Dutch validation of the Hogg Climate Anxiety Scale in a representative sample, N = 5,399, ages 12–25) and modifiable correlates for prevention; and (4) synthesise lessons from WHO/Europe’s mapping of interventions addressing climate-related mental health outcomes (20 interventions across 15 countries) and translate them into practical cross-sector policy steps spanning promotion/prevention to curative responses, with attention to vulnerable populations; and (5) integrate a health economics lens to identify the cost of inaction and value-for-money considerations of prevention, nature-based solutions and workforce protections. Added value and coherence: By linking upstream environmental exposures (pollution), health-system and workforce resilience to heat in psychiatric/psychosocial settings, life-course monitoring of climate-related distress, and “what works” policy lessons from WHO/Europe, the workshop moves beyond describing associations to identifying implementable levers for prioritising interventions, and embedding mental health indicators in environmental and health surveillance. Format: Three 8–10 minute presentations followed by a 30-minute interactive segment. Participants will discuss priorities among policy levers and debate economic, health-related and social aspects of public mental health; outputs will be consolidated in plenary into a shared ‘Top 5’ agenda for European practice and EUPHA section collaboration. Key messages: • Pollution, heat and climate distress threaten mental health, productivity and equity, calling for interdisciplinary action, incl. nature-based solutions and occupational health. • Children and adolescents face mental health harms from air pollution, noise, chemicals and climate anxiety; extend interventions on climate emotions into life-course monitoring and prevention.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -