IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-43135-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic valuation of temperature-related mortality attributed to urban heat islands in European cities

Author

Listed:
  • Wan Ting Katty Huang

    (University College London
    Met Office)

  • Pierre Masselot

    (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

  • Elie Bou-Zeid

    (Princeton University)

  • Simone Fatichi

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Athanasios Paschalis

    (Imperial College London)

  • Ting Sun

    (University College London)

  • Antonio Gasparrini

    (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

  • Gabriele Manoli

    (University College London
    Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL))

Abstract

As the climate warms, increasing heat-related health risks are expected, and can be exacerbated by the urban heat island (UHI) effect. UHIs can also offer protection against cold weather, but a clear quantification of their impacts on human health across diverse cities and seasons is still being explored. Here we provide a 500 m resolution assessment of mortality risks associated with UHIs for 85 European cities in 2015-2017. Acute impacts are found during heat extremes, with a 45% median increase in mortality risk associated with UHI, compared to a 7% decrease during cold extremes. However, protracted cold seasons result in greater integrated protective effects. On average, UHI-induced heat-/cold-related mortality is associated with economic impacts of €192/€ − 314 per adult urban inhabitant per year in Europe, comparable to air pollution and transit costs. These findings urge strategies aimed at designing healthier cities to consider the seasonality of UHI impacts, and to account for social costs, their controlling factors, and intra-urban variability.

Suggested Citation

  • Wan Ting Katty Huang & Pierre Masselot & Elie Bou-Zeid & Simone Fatichi & Athanasios Paschalis & Ting Sun & Antonio Gasparrini & Gabriele Manoli, 2023. "Economic valuation of temperature-related mortality attributed to urban heat islands in European cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43135-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43135-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43135-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-43135-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Filipe Batista e Silva & Sérgio Freire & Marcello Schiavina & Konštantín Rosina & Mario Alberto Marín-Herrera & Lukasz Ziemba & Massimo Craglia & Eric Koomen & Carlo Lavalle, 2020. "Uncovering temporal changes in Europe’s population density patterns using a data fusion approach," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Francisco Estrada & W. J. Wouter Botzen & Richard S. J. Tol, 2017. "A global economic assessment of city policies to reduce climate change impacts," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 403-406, June.
    3. A. M. Vicedo-Cabrera & N. Scovronick & F. Sera & D. Royé & R. Schneider & A. Tobias & C. Astrom & Y. Guo & Y. Honda & D. M. Hondula & R. Abrutzky & S. Tong & M. de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho & P., 2021. "The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(6), pages 492-500, June.
    4. Gabriele Manoli & Simone Fatichi & Markus Schläpfer & Kailiang Yu & Thomas W. Crowther & Naika Meili & Paolo Burlando & Gabriel G. Katul & Elie Bou-Zeid, 2019. "Magnitude of urban heat islands largely explained by climate and population," Nature, Nature, vol. 573(7772), pages 55-60, September.
    5. Lei Zhao, 2018. "Urban growth and climate adaptation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(12), pages 1034-1034, December.
    6. Fabiani, C. & Pisello, A.L. & Bou-Zeid, E. & Yang, J. & Cotana, F., 2019. "Adaptive measures for mitigating urban heat islands: The potential of thermochromic materials to control roofing energy balance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 155-170.
    7. Lei Zhao & Keith Oleson & Elie Bou-Zeid & E. Scott Krayenhoff & Andrew Bray & Qing Zhu & Zhonghua Zheng & Chen Chen & Michael Oppenheimer, 2021. "Global multi-model projections of local urban climates," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(2), pages 152-157, February.
    8. Andrew Caplin & Masoud Ghandehari & Chris Lim & Paul Glimcher & George Thurston, 2019. "Advancing environmental exposure assessment science to benefit society," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Angel Hsu & Glenn Sheriff & Tirthankar Chakraborty & Diego Manya, 2021. "Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity across major US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Angel Hsu & Glenn Sheriff & Tirthankar Chakraborty & Diego Manya, 2021. "Publisher Correction: Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity across major US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-1, December.
    11. R. Daniel Bressler, 2021. "The mortality cost of carbon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Céline Grislain-Letrémy & Julie Sixou & Aurélie Sotura, 2024. "Urban Heat Islands and Inequalities: Evidence from French Cities," Working papers 966, Banque de France.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuxiang Li & Jens-Christian Svenning & Weiqi Zhou & Kai Zhu & Jesse F. Abrams & Timothy M. Lenton & William J. Ripple & Zhaowu Yu & Shuqing N. Teng & Robert R. Dunn & Chi Xu, 2024. "Green spaces provide substantial but unequal urban cooling globally," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. C. Grislain-Letremy & J. Sixou & A. Sotura, 2024. "Urban Heat Islands and Inequalities: Evidence from French Cities," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers 2024-21, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    3. TC Chakraborty & Zander S. Venter & Matthias Demuzere & Wenfeng Zhan & Jing Gao & Lei Zhao & Yun Qian, 2024. "Large disagreements in estimates of urban land across scales and their implications," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Borsky, Stefan & Fesselmeyer, Eric & Vogelsang, Lennart, 2024. "Urban heat and within-city residential sorting," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Céline Grislain-Letrémy & Julie Sixou & Aurélie Sotura, 2024. "Urban Heat Islands and Inequalities: Evidence from French Cities," Working papers 966, Banque de France.
    6. Noa Levin, 2023. "Book review essay: City, Climate and Architecture; Coping with Urban Climates," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(13), pages 2725-2730, October.
    7. Ivan Rudik & Derek Lemoine & Antonia Marcheva, 2024. "Equity and Efficiency in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Adaptation Investments," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jones, Andrew & Nock, Destenie & Samaras, Constantine & Qiu, Yueming (Lucy) & Xing, Bo, 2023. "Climate change impacts on future residential electricity consumption and energy burden: A case study in Phoenix, Arizona," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    9. Antonio Ligsay & Olivier Telle & Richard Paul, 2021. "Challenges to Mitigating the Urban Health Burden of Mosquito-Borne Diseases in the Face of Climate Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, May.
    10. Luke J. Harrington & Kristie L. Ebi & David J. Frame & Friederike E. L. Otto, 2022. "Integrating attribution with adaptation for unprecedented future heatwaves," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-7, May.
    11. Sabrina Katharina Beckmann & Michael Hiete & Michael Schneider & Christoph Beck, 2021. "Heat adaptation measures in private households: an application and adaptation of the protective action decision model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Pennell, Grace & Newman, Sarah & Tarekegne, Bethel & Boff, Daniel & Fowler, Richard & Gonzalez, Juan, 2022. "A comparison of building system parameters between affordable and market-rate housing in New York City," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    13. Bakhtsiyarava, Maryia & Schinasi, Leah H. & Sánchez, Brisa N. & Dronova, Iryna & Kephart, Josiah L. & Ju, Yang & Gouveia, Nelson & Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira & O'Neill, Marie S. & Yamada, Goro & Arunac, 2023. "Modification of temperature-related human mortality by area-level socioeconomic and demographic characteristics in Latin American cities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    14. Andrea Baccarelli & Dana C. Dolinoy & Cheryl Lyn Walker, 2023. "A precision environmental health approach to prevention of human disease," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Risto Conte Keivabu, 2022. "Extreme Temperature and Mortality by Educational Attainment in Spain, 2012–2018," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1145-1182, December.
    16. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Adam R. Pearson, 2023. "Public recognition of climate change inequities within the United States," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(8), pages 1-14, August.
    17. Claire Conzelmann & Jeremy Hoffman & Toan Phan & Arianna Salazar-Miranda, 2022. "Long-term Effects of Redlining on Environmental Risk Exposure," Working Paper 22-09R, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    18. Shi, Han & Wang, Bo & Qiu, Yueming Lucy & Deng, Nana & Xie, Baichen & Zhang, Bin & Ma, Shijun, 2024. "The unequal impacts of extremely high temperatures on households’ adaptive behaviors: Empirical evidence from fine-grained electricity consumption data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    19. Farina, Georges & Le Coënt, Philippe & Hérivaux, Cécile, 2024. "Do urban environmental inequalities influence demand for nature based solutions?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    20. Lucas Cain & Danae Hernandez-Cortes & Christopher Timmins & Paige Weber, 2023. "Recent Findings and Methodologies in Economics Research in Environmental Justice," CESifo Working Paper Series 10283, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43135-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.