UKRI Realising the Health Co-Benefits of the Transition to Net Zero

Funding to establish a number of transdisciplinary research hubs that will help to realise the health co-benefits of the UK transition to net zero.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is administering this UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-wide opportunity with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), alongside co-funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The opportunity will establish a number of transdisciplinary research hubs that will help to realise the health co-benefits of the UK transition to net zero.

The hubs will provide policy-relevant evidence and deliver high impact solutions-focused research and innovation. The funding opportunity has four objectives:

• To evaluate the potential health impacts from existing climate change adaptations and mitigations with a view to improving them and realise any potential benefit to human health including reducing health disparities.
• To develop and evaluate new adaptations and mitigations to support the UK to reach net zero that protect and promote the health of the UK population. Attention will be paid to the distribution of health impacts across different socio-economic groups.
• To develop a standardised way to measure the trade-offs and unintended consequences as part of net zero measures, to optimise interventions and understand the most effective interventions to implement.
• To understand how impacts and interventions might vary in the home, workplace or in a variety of health care settings.

The overarching goal is to realise the health co-benefits of the UK’s transition to net zero, in order to protect and promote the physical and mental health of the UK population.

Each hub will address at least one of the five challenges of the net zero agenda, generating research to understand the human health implications of current policies and identify new health-focused interventions. The challenges are as follows:

• Indoor environments in a net zero world.
• Transportation and the built environment.
• Sustainable healthy diets.
• Extreme weather.
• Decarbonising health and social care pathways.

The hubs will form part of a portfolio of investments supporting UKRI and NIHR priorities. Funding is provided partly through the UKRI building a green future theme, as set out in the UKRI strategy 2022 to 2027.