Development of a Climate and Health Economic Valuation Tool

The World Bank (WB) has committed to supporting countries to reduce the impact of climate change on health outcomes, to strengthen the climate resilience of health systems, and to act towards climate change mitigation in the health sector. To do this, the WB is supporting the development of a tool that would enable decision-makers to determine whether the costs of inaction as it relates to climate change outweigh the costs and benefits of action. The project develops the Climate and Health Economic Valuation Tool (CHEVT), to enable countries to estimate potential costs and benefits of proposed policy and/or programmatic changes to reduce the impact of climate change on the health of the population.

The CHEVTwill complement tools already in existence which support countries with the assessment of their population’s climate and health vulnerabilities. The tool will enable governments, and more specifically Ministries of Finance (MoF), to estimate the costs of inaction as well help policymakers make informed decisions about the various resourcing implications of policy options relating to climate change and health.

To achieve this, Metroeconomica reviewed existing literature on the economics of climate and health and methodologies for valuing the economic impacts of climate change. With this knowledge, Metroeconomica developed a tool capable of quantifying and valuing deaths and cases attributable to climate change under different future scenarios. They health outcomes selected for the project were: Dengue, Diarrhoeal diseases, Extreme heat, Extreme events, Malaria and Stunting. A pilot report for Pakistan was also developed.