Climate Health Initiative: Activity Report 2024-2026
Climate Health Initiative: Strengthening Climate–Health Collaboration at UiB and beyond. The Climate Health Initiative (CHI), coordinated by the Pandemic Centre at the University of Bergen, has completed a highly active period in 2024–2026. Launched in 2024, CHI brings together experts across medicine, psychology, climate science, social sciences, and local and international partners to better understand and respond to the health impacts of climate change.
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Building a Strong Interdisciplinary Platform
Climate change is increasingly recognised as a complex threat to human health, intensifying infectious diseases, mental health challenges, environmental exposures, and health inequalities. To meet these challenges, CHI was established as a multi‑faculty and multi‑institutional initiative, anchored by the Pandemic Centre at the University of Bergen.
The Climate Health Initiative CHI has now released an Activity Report for 2024-2026, showing the substantial collaborative engagement evolved since 2024. (external link)
Highlights from 2024–2026
- Public engagement and launch activities
CHI was officially presented to the public during One Ocean Week in April 2024 with the event Could the next pandemic come from the ocean?, attracting broad interest in the intersection of climate change, marine ecosystems, and emerging infectious diseases
- National webinar series
Between October 2024 and March 2025, CHI hosted six national webinars featuring leading experts from UiB, NIPH, CICERO, and other institutions. The series fostered interdisciplinary dialogue on environmental health, air pollution, planetary health, and climate policy
- Educational contributions
CHI coordinated one of the PhD courses at the 2025 Bergen Summer Research School—Climate Change and Health—bringing together 15 international students. The course explored both direct and indirect health impacts of climate change, with contributions from all CHI partner institution
- Strengthening research capacity
A new three‑year PhD position was allocated to CHI in 2025, filled by Ingrid Cardoso Couto de Azevedo, whose research focuses on how climate goals are integrated into decision‑making in the Norwegian hospital sector. An additional PhD position will be added in 2026 to further strengthen research efforts.
Looking Ahead
- CHI’s activities demonstrate a growing demand for interdisciplinary approaches to climate and health. In 2026, the initiative will refine its organisational structure, with plans for a formal steering committee and a strengthened leadership model to ensure long‑term sustainability.