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.