Climate Change and Health
You are here
Climate change is a public health crisis.
Climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century. Everyone faces a risk of health impacts associated with climate change, including extreme weather events, worsening air quality, changes in the spread of infectious diseases, threats to food and water quality and quantity, and effects on our mental health.
Accelerating Capacity, Preparedness and Resilience Against the Health Effects of Climate Change
At the CDC Foundation, we are working to propel health to the forefront of the climate change conversation and accelerate the nation's resilience in the face of a changing world.
The CDC Foundation is well positioned to bring together partners to mitigate the effects of climate on health. Along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health, academic, business and community leadership across the country, we are working to build community-level climate resilience to protect health. Our goal is to help people understand the risks to their wellbeing and inspire action. Environmental justice and health equity will serve as cornerstones, ensuring the voices of those most disproportionately impacted by our changing climate help guide this work.
LEADING A NATIONAL COMMUNITY-BASED RESPONSE
The CDC Foundation's work to address the effects of climate change on health will include the following areas:
Building capacity for communities
Communities across America are under-resourced and under-prepared to address climate change. Support for frontline communities to develop and implement evidence-based climate health strategies is critical to prevent and respond to local health effects. Through our response to COVID-19, the CDC Foundation has built a network of 300 frontline community-based organizations positioned to identify local public health priorities and shape effective responses. The CDC Foundation aims to develop a similar approach to community-level preparedness to help frontline communities in the fight against climate change.
Developing a national climate health workforce
Nationwide, local health departments and community organizations overburdened by the COVID-19 pandemic report a lack of specific skills and capacity to address the health impacts of climate change. In response to COVID-19, the CDC Foundation helped to develop the nation’s public health workforce by hiring, deploying and managing nearly 3,500 frontline staff in local health departments and communities in every U.S. state and territory. Building on this experience, we aim to bolster local capacity and train a cadre of public health professionals to recognize and respond to local climate-related health threats.
Building climate change leadership in public health
It is critical we address the climate crisis at all levels of the public health sector. Traditionally charged with reducing preventable death and disease, public health professionals must now accelerate their leadership, expertise in leveraging scientific evidence, problem-solving capabilities and high levels of public trust to address climate change through effective policies and projects. In partnership with Florida A&M University Institute of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Advocacy and UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions, the CDC Foundation aims to implement an innovative climate health training program for public health professionals to inform scientifically rigorous policy solutions and establish a national peer-to-peer support network among public health professionals for ongoing technical assistance to help rebuild the public health system with a focus on climate.
Communicating the health impacts of climate change
To be informed and take effective action, we need accurate, scientifically-based information on climate change. By partnering with social marketing firms and climate journalists, the CDC Foundation aims to develop, coordinate and share critical communications content and resources to inform local knowledge about climate change and support local efforts to take action. Such resources would target environmental health practitioners, clinicians and the general public with evidence-based information they can use to share best practices, provide examples of how communities are adapting and increase public awareness of the connection between climate change and health.
Transforming the healthcare system for climate health
The U.S. healthcare system accounts for nearly 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 10 percent of global GDP. With capacity to drive change, the sector has great potential to lead in the global response to climate change while also better serving communities through public health partnerships.
In collaboration with Health Care Without Harm, the CDC Foundation will work to develop cross-sector partnerships, strategies and tools to increase the U.S. healthcare system’s ability to respond to the health effects of climate change while reducing its own environmental impact. Through these partnerships we aim to build a resource bank of case studies and tools clinicians can use to recognize and respond to social and environmental determinants of health, and to reduce the carbon footprint of the U.S. healthcare system by working with likeminded vendors and transform purchasing practices with climate change at the forefront.
THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HEALTH
- Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health―clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.
- Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.
- The direct damage costs to health is estimated to be between USD $2-4 billion per year by 2030 (excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation).
- Areas with weak health infrastructure―mostly in developing countries―will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
Source: WHO, Oct. 2021
WATCH VIDEO: Climate Change and Health

Our changing climate poses an immediate and growing threat to human health. We believe we can take actions to ensure all Americans have the opportunity to live their healthiest lives—today and for generations to come. We recently announced our plans to let the passion, ideas and enthusiasm of today’s young adult leaders and innovators help inform our climate and health approach. Together, we can find actionable, sustainable and scalable solutions to accelerating the capacity, preparedness and resiliency of communities across the country. Learn more about this work:
June 15, 2022 | WATCH WEBINAR: Feeling the Heat and the Hope
HOW YOU CAN HELP
The CDC Foundation is actively seeking partners to join with us to make an impact. Help us move health to the forefront of the conversation around climate change and help people understand the risks to their wellbeing and inspire action. Learn more: Contact Advancement at the CDC Foundation: advancement@cdcfoundation.org, 404.653.0790.
If you would like to have an immediate impact, you can give today to help us accelerate our nation's capacity, preparedness and resilience against the health impacts of climate change. Donate Now