Enhancing the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action on Climate, Environment and Health

Actions should develop and provide support mechanisms to advance and further boost the global added value of the Belmont Forum’s Collaborative Research Action (CRA) on Climate, Environment and Health and its inputs to the relevant EU policy-making processes. This should include the promotion and prioritisation of research and innovation areas during transdisciplinary conferences, meetings and workshops, capacity building related to relevant stakeholder involvement, cross-fertilisation activities amongst Belmont Forum, EU- funded and relevant nationally funded projects, synthesis of their results, with a particular focus on policy making, such as knowledge based policy briefs, dissemination, communication and outreach.

Cooperation with relevant existing projects under Societal Challenge 1 and 5 of Horizon 2020, including relevant ongoing Coordination and Support Actions, is encouraged.

Actions should also provide support to a knowledge management platform of EU funded research and innovation on the linkages between health and climate, support the Belmont Forum Members, partners and secretariat, in relation to this CRA and support the organisation of an international conference on climate change and health.

Cooperation with the relevant services, expert groups and mechanisms of the European Commission will be required to provide evidence-based policy advice, and report on the CRA results and synthesis of their findings. Actions should also build upon EU research and innovation framework programmes and avoid duplication and overlaps.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the range of EUR 3 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

The EU is a major investor and player in both climate change and health research. The EU also supports global research and innovation collaboration, including that done by the Belmont Forum - a partnership of funding organisations, international science councils, and consortia committed to the advancement of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science. Bringing together climate change and health research has been a particular challenge in Europe that requires coordination and support. Previous similar actions proved to be instrumental in providing the necessary support and the high degree of coordination within the European landscape and beyond.

The project results are expected to:

• contribute to policy advice on climate change and health at international and EU level and supporting the EU's international commitments with respect to the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC and others related to climate change and health sciences;
• bolstering a network of projects funded under the CRA call with relevant EU-funded projects addressing climate, environment and health;
• better flow of information and knowledge dissemination on climate change, environment and health to low and medium income countries;
• raising global awareness of climate impacts on human, plant and animal health.