IWBI Global Research Agenda: Uniting Human Health and Climate Change

The issues of climate change and human health are too often seen as having competing needs that require sacrifice at some level—a trade-off between environmental impact and personal health needs. But, what if the truth is simpler? What if the same things that nurture the planet also nurture its people? What if, rather than focusing on what we stand to lose, we instead celebrate the golden opportunity to make valuable gains?

Exploring the transformative synergy between human health and climate change was the subject of the webcast that launched our first Global Research Agenda Impact Topic on climate change, human health and the built environment.

We were honored to welcome Dr. Howard Frumkin, Professor Emeritus, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health, Dr. Chris Pyke, from the U.S. Green Building Council, and Jennifer Taranto, Director of Sustainability, Global Services at STO Building Group to explore how to unite the topic of health and climate change.

Dr. Frumkin kicked the webcast off by framing the climate crisis as the greatest potential public health threat of the 21st century. We know that climate change imperils human health through rising temperatures, severe weather events and the worsening of air quality (by pollutants that are also accelerating climate change). These factors could exacerbate chronic illnesses, disrupt and displace communities, increase food insecurity and make it tougher to control the proliferation of diseases, all of which impact mental health.

But amid the doom and gloom, it’s important to recognize the opportunities to align health benefits with our actions to address climate change. Planetary health focuses on the interdependence of human health, animal health, and environmental health. For instance, shifting towards renewable energy sources and adapting transportation systems to favor public transit, walking and cycling, would also lead to improved air quality that could deliver physical and mental health benefits. By moving to more plant-based diets we could also improve overall planetary health.

Dr. Chris Pyke reiterated the need to turn these benefits into operational gains in our spaces and places. The challenge here is to resist the reductionist approach that results in what Dr. Pyke refers to as “random acts of health promotion”: individual interventions that are good but don’t have as much impact as they would have if they were implemented as part of an integrated design strategy.

When we recognize that human health and climate change are united with the same ultimate purpose, we can see that the much-vaunted trade-off between environmental performance and well-being is largely theoretical. Dr. Pyke noted that the data shows a strong correlation between more aggressive emissions reductions and higher levels of employee satisfaction and engagement. “In the real world, high-performance teams using integrative design processes can deliver environmental benefits AND superior conditions for the people who populate these spaces.”

Jennifer Taranto shared her experience at Structure Tone, the first WELL Certified commercial project in New York City. She has seen first hand the positive human well-being outcomes that can be achieved when prioritizing a sustainable approach to building. Her inspired “Yes…And” mantra focuses on designing systems that support people to thrive before layering on technology that drives energy usage down—not choosing one at the expense of the other.

For Taranto, effectively assessing the impact of a building includes issues like site clearance, considering the life cycle issues of the materials that impact the workers who make them, construct with them, and the community that lives with them. By using the WELL Building Standard (WELL) as a tool for helping to create more energy efficient, sustainable spaces Structure Tone champions human health and shows how far we’ve come in a relatively short time.

It was a powerful moment in 2014 when we introduced WELL. Here, at last, was a comprehensive roadmap. A system for translating research to practice that allowed us to share with our community “how” to design in a way that prioritizes people’s health and well-being. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, our work is more important than ever as the awareness of how buildings can make you healthier—or not—gains a wider audience.

Structure Tone was also one of the first WELL case studies that tracked building and people impacts using robust research methods. This is but one of the examples of how research is needed to elevate these important conversations on health, well-being, and the built environment.

We believe the best way to evolve a better understanding of the types of spaces and places that foster human health is by undertaking extensive global research.

That is also why research is the backbone of IWBI. As part of our ongoing commitment, we recently announced the IWBI Global Research Agenda on Health, Well-Being and the Built Environment. It’s an ambitious initiative that offers a practical route to enable organizations, funders and policy makers to focus on the key research areas that will ultimately underpin the creation of people first places.

We’ve brought together 20 research advisors from around the world to contribute to a research agenda that resulted in the identification of 12 impact topics, each of which is timely and relevant. Over the course of the next year, we will activate the Global Research Agenda by reaching out to key community members that are looking to fund, partner and complete the research needed. Engaging in this long-term endeavor helps us establish what we do know, while setting us on track to discover what we don’t, before translating it swiftly into practice so our design leaders can create places that foster human and planetary health.

We should double down on leveraging the desire for improved health as an opportunity to do the right thing for our environment—it’s an incredibly motivating factor for those of us who want our families to live their best lives. Everyone needs to know that climate change is inextricably linked to human health: we simply can’t have healthy people without a healthy planet. It’s a powerful message for Earth Day.

To learn more, download the Impact Topic brief on Climate Change, listen to the webcast, and share the full Global Research Agenda with your friends and colleagues.