New Publication: Counting Children In – Understanding Climate Change and Health from the Start

We are pleased to share our latest publication:
“Counting children out: we are underestimating the health impacts of climate change without birth cohort studies.”

👉 Read the paper

Many of the physical and mental health challenges people face begin early in life. From pregnancy through childhood, these formative years shape long-term health trajectories. Children are also uniquely vulnerable to environmental stressors, making them particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change.

Across Europe, climate change is intensifying extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and biodiversity loss. These environmental changes are not only affecting ecosystems but also posing growing risks to children’s health, wellbeing, and education. Without targeted attention, these impacts are likely to increase in both scale and severity over time.

Despite these concerns, much of the existing research on climate change and health focuses on outcomes across all ages combined. While valuable, this approach risks masking the distinct—and often lifelong—effects that environmental exposures have on children.

To truly understand how climate change shapes health over the life course, we need to centre children in our analyses.

In this paper, we call for a combined birth cohort approach—bringing together:

This integrated framework would enable researchers to track how climate-related exposures influence health from pregnancy, through childhood, and into adulthood.

Stronger, child-focused evidence is essential for informing effective policy. By improving how we measure and understand these impacts, we can better protect younger generations and support healthier futures.

Ultimately, this is about fairness—ensuring that children are fully counted in climate and health research, and that policies reflect their needs.

🌱 A healthier, more equitable future starts with understanding the earliest stages of life.