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Preparing EU citizens for current and future challenges of extreme weather events
Throughout 2025, the ERS Environment and Health Committee will host a series of events and activities that explore ways that policy recommendations can be made relating to the increasing threat posed to respiratory health by natural disasters and climate change.
These activities were launched earlier this year with a policy discussion in Brussels which was attended by respiratory health/environmental experts, policymakers, patient organisations, civil society, research and healthcare professionals.
A new webinar series on natural disasters and climate change and their impacts on respiratory health has now also been launched by ERS, in partnership with the EU Health Policy Platform. Learn more about this webinar series.
ERS originally outlined the climate change occurrences which cause clear and major threats to respiratory patients worldwide in a statement published in 2023 in the European Respiratory Journal.
Alongside highlighting these threats, the statement called for health to be central to the development of climate change mitigation strategies and air pollution reduction policies. ERS urged support from the professional respiratory community to advocate for the protection of our planet and for the health of people that live and depend on it.
As the USA reneges on its commitments to the Paris climate agreement, scales back the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and as it is expected to exit the World Health Organization, it is more important than ever to keep European decision makers focused on tackling climate change and its health effects.
This year will also see the publication of the Natural Disaster and Respiratory Health series in the European Respiratory Journal, and the creation of the ERS-led Stakeholder Network focused on climate change and health.
4 June, 2025 | Online
14:00–15:30 CEST
This webinar will look at the effects of heatwaves on the respiratory systems as a public health emergency. It will explore the role of heat-health action plans in improving preparedness and response.
As the first in a new series of online events on the EU Health Policy Platform, ERS aims at highlighting the growing intersection between natural disasters, climate change, and public health – particularly in light of evolving EU frameworks such as the recently proposed 2040 climate targets.
This policy discussion was held in Brussels and led by ERS Environment and Health Committee Chair, Dr Ulrike Gehring.
The effects of climate change pose many risks to respiratory health. We must prepare as much as possible for the future and minimise those risks.
At the event, ERS welcomed respiratory health/environmental experts, policymakers, patient organisations, civil society, research and healthcare professionals to Brussels for this important discussion of policy recommendations which prioritise the health of EU citizens.
Throughout the one-day conference in Brussels, policymakers, healthcare professionals, scientists, and patient advocates examined how climate-driven extreme weather events are creating new respiratory risks across Europe.
The event highlighted the vulnerability of particular groups to natural disasters and showed how they, together with social inequities, exacerbate respiratory illness.
Experts urged policymakers to integrate respiratory health into broader EU crisis preparedness while underlining the need for better-funded healthcare systems, early-warning infrastructures, and cross-sector coordination.
By adopting a “One Health” framework, participants concluded that human, environmental, and animal wellbeing are inseparably linked, making unified strategies crucial for present and future challenges.
The conference concluded with a call for urgent policy reforms, especially regarding resource allocation, to recognise respiratory health not as a competing policy area but as a foundational pillar for societal resilience.
Failing to prioritise this dimension, attendees warned, endangers economic stability and undermines collective capacity to respond to climate threats.
The event was split into four sessions, each featuring presentations from expert speakers and/or panel discussions.