In the second edition of the METEOR newsletter, each project gives updates on its research, policy and communication activities. From scientific publications, to policy briefs, to stakeholder workshops – the projects have been busy addressing different environmental stressors and their health impacts.
Read the newsletter here.
VALESOR aims to make major contributions to the scientific and policy efforts to accommodate economic values of environmental stressors more homogenously in policy making, planning, focusing on chemical stressors such as chemicals and air pollutants transmitted via air, water, and soil vectors.
VALESOR will launch its new innovative online tool for stakeholders to assess health and economic consequences of planned variations in chemical stressors. This tool is based on the existing Alpha-RiskPoll model, used as a policy decision support tool within air pollution reduction work conducted by the EU and by the Air Convention. The tool operates with emission reduction scenarios and for each scenario provides users with a set of outputs such as the effects on health (decreased mortality, morbidity) and the expected benefits. The tool allows end users to easily test several valuation methods, adjust values of key parameters and directly see changes in the results.
Join VALESOR on 23 October for a workshop to explore the tool and its uses.
To join on the 23rd, click here.
For more information, click here.
08.45 – 09.00 – Welcome & Introduction to Workshop main objectives and scope (Dr. Gildas Appéré, University of Angers, Dr. Stefan Åström, Anthesis)
09.00 – 09.45 – Presentation of Alpha-RiskPoll model and VALESOR tool (Dr. Michael Holland, EMRC, Katarina Yaramenka, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute)
09.45 – 10.15 – Presentation of the VALESOR case studies (Dr. Joseph Spadaro, SERC)
10.15 – 10.30 – Break
10.30 – 11.15 – Presentation of PARC project expected results / tool (Dr. Christophe Rouselle, PARC project)
11.15 – 11.45 – VALESOR use cases demonstration (Katarina Yaramenka, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute)
11.45 – 12.15 – Testing the VALESOR tool, Other EU-funded projects and speakers
12.15 – 13.00 – Open discussion
On 22 October 2025, leading researchers, policy experts, and practitioners will gather at the Université d’Angers – and online – for the METEOR Workshop on Economic Valuation. The event will address how methods for valuing health-related costs of environmental stressors can strengthen European and local decision-making.
The workshop, hosted at Amphi Lagon, Faculté DEG, and accessible remotely via Microsoft Teams, brings together participants to exchange insights on how scientific evidence can be translated into policy and economic assessments that better capture the true costs of environmental stressors.
From science to policy: Linking economic valuation to EU and local deliberations, with contributions from the European Commission, ISGlobal, HEAL, and ADEME.
Valuation methods: Presentations on health endpoints from the SWACHE project, complexity in valuing multiple outcomes, and approaches to measuring morbidity with QALYs and DALYs.
Meta-analyses and case studies: A global synthesis of the value of statistical life (VSL), valuation of quality-of-life improvements, and new evidence from the post-industrial region of Taranto.
This one-day hybrid event will serve as a platform to advance methodological discussions and foster collaboration across disciplines, helping to ensure that economic valuation can more effectively support public health and environmental policies.
Please connect to the event via this link and find all the details and agenda here.
The July 2025 edition of the UBDPolicy newsletter is available to read.
From online webinars to workshops, and in-person presentations and posters, the BEST-COST partners have enjoyed the discussions on improving research methodologies to better understand how air and noise pollution impacts our health.
The European Commission’s Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) published an article highlighting findings from the EU-funded UBDPolicy project. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, identified four urban typologies across Europe – compact high-density cities, open low-rise medium-density cities, open low-rise low-density cities and green low-density cities – and assessed their environmental and health impacts. The team found that high-density compact cities have lower carbon emissions per capita, but suffer from poor air quality, higher mortality rates and limited green space, posing significant challenges for sustainable urban living.
Read the full article here.
As part of the UBDPolicy project, the University of Cambridge team is organising a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methods course for invited participants in Cambridge from 19-23 May. The course will take place at the University’s West Cambridge Hub in West Cambridge, and will include:
Day 1: Burden of disease, Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA), and Epidemiology
Days 2–5: Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model (ITHIM)
A new study on the health impact of greenness and mortality from the MISTRAL project has been published in Nature Communications, revealing how access to green spaces can prevent deaths in Italy.
The results underscore the critical need for strong action to increase the amount and accessibility of green spaces in all human settlements. More green means fewer deaths, making it imperative for policymakers to prioritize greening initiatives as a strategic component of public health and urban planning.
In this health impact assessment, the authors utilised satellite data to estimate the number of preventable deaths across Italy’s 49 million adult population by increasing residential greenness. The exposure was measured using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at a 10-meter resolution within a 300-meter radius from homes in 7,904 municipalities.
The study’s findings are remarkable. By achieving the level of residential greenness currently experienced by the top 25% of the population nationwide, the researchers estimate that a total of 28,433 (95% confidence interval: 21,400–42,350) deaths and 279,324 (210,247–415,980) years of life lost could have been prevented in Italy in 2022. This represents 5% of the total mortality burden in the considered municipalities.
This research highlights the significant benefits of green spaces on human health, a topic that has long been challenging for epidemiologists to quantify.
Read the study here.
Health impact assessment (HIA) of the environment involves comparing the health impact of different scenarios using a systematic approach. Impacts can be calculated at the full population level, but often the distribution of impacts across the population is important as well. Specifically, the distribution of health impacts across different socioeconomic or ethnic groups is of interest. Differences in health impacts across socio-economic, ethnic, or gender groups can be caused by all elements in the HIA process, including the level of exposure to environmental stressors, the impact of an intervention to reduce environmental exposure, exposure-response functions (ERFs), or background rates of disease or mortality. Little is known about which factors contribute more to differential impacts across socio-economic groups. For virtually all diseases, background rates of disease and mortality are higher in deprived populations. For the other paths, evidence is less consistent.
The UBDPOLICY project addresses health impacts related to outdoor air pollution, noise, green, and heat in urban areas. Organised by Utrecht University (UU), this workshop will discuss the evidence for quantifying different pathways of inequitable impacts across populations, including methodological issues. It will also assess approaches for integrating equity into health impact assessment of environmental stressors.
The aim of the workshop is to discuss:
To attend the event, please register here.
As UBDPolicy moves into the second half of the project, it will begin to transform its research into analysis and reporting. With data collection expected to conclude early next year, results will start flowing in 2025. These findings will be crucial for stakeholder discussions and actionable insights.
Read more in the latest edition of the UBDPolicy newsletter.
These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the call HORIZON-HLTH-2022-ENVHLTH-04-01 (Methods for assessing health-related costs of environmental stressors) and grant agreements 101094639 (UBDPOLICY), 101095611 (VALESOR), 101095430 (MARCHES), 101095408 (BEST-COST) and 101095119 (MISTRAL).
