6 June 2013: The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO-ROE) has developed a tool for economic analysis of the health-related costs of climate change, the costs of adaptation measures, and the return of adaptation measures in terms of averted health costs.

Launched at a side event held during the Bonn Climate Change Conference, the tool aims to support WHO member States in planning measures for health adaptation to climate change. It provides a science-based method and step-by-step instructions to calculate: the health damage costs associated with climate change without adaptation measures; the costs of adaptation measures that minimize or prevent climate change impacts on health; and indicators for measuring the cost effectiveness of adaptation measures.

The tool consists of manual (available online) and Excel spreadsheets (available upon request) for calculating the costs. The data necessary to use the tool can be obtained from national or sub-national health assessments or studies on specific outcomes of health outcomes. [WHO-ROE Press release][Publication: Climate Change and Health: A Tool to Estimate Health and Adaptation Costs] [IISD RS Side-event Coverage] [IISD RS Coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Conference]