The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative is an urgent, cross-cutting NIH effort to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world, especially among those at highest risk.

Strategic Framework

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative Strategic Framework includes input from the scientific and stakeholder communities. The Framework provides the initial planning of how the NIH community will address climate change and health.

View the Strategic Framework

Strategic Framework Fact Sheet

Impact of Climate Change on Human Health Infographic

Research Needed for Reducing Health Risks Fact Sheet Updated

Funding Opportunities

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Climate Change and Health
NOT-ES-22-006
First Available Due Date: July 08, 2022
Expiration Date: May 08, 2025
As part of an NIH-wide Climate Change and Health Initiative, this NOSI encourages applications that address the impact of climate change on health and well-being over the life course, including the health implications of climate change in the United States and globally.

Additional NIH Funding Related to Climate and Health

Past Funding Opportunities

Research Coordinating Center (CAFÉ RCC)

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative has awarded a three-year grant to Boston University School of Public Health and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to serve as the Research Coordinating Center (RCC) for this NIH-wide effort to reduce the health impacts of climate change. Referred to as the CAFÉ RCC, it will Convene, Accelerate, Foster, and Expand the global climate change and health community of practice. To accelerate the translation of research into practical solutions, the CAFÉ RCC will engage a diverse array of researchers and other stakeholders across government agencies, non-governmental and community-based organizations, academia, industry, foundations, and potential funders. To be part of this community of practice, visit the CAFÉ.

• NIEHS News story June 2023: NIH funds first climate and health research coordinating center
• Past Funding Announcement (RFA-ES-22-003)

New NIH/NSF Partnership Bolsters Rapid Funding to Researchers Addressing Climate-Related Disasters

The NIH has established an agreement with the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide funding to two centers housed at universities known for their disaster response expertise (University of Colorado Boulder and University of Washington). The centers will provide support for timely collection of perishable data and health research in response to climate-related disasters. The partnership enhances opportunities to bring climate science and related disciplines together with the growing NIH Climate Change and Health and disaster research Communities of Practice. Funding announcements for these awards will be posted here and by the centers.

• The University of Colorado Boulder Natural Hazards Center will provide rapid awards to eligible grantees to get into the field quickly after an extreme climate event to work with communities to start health-related research. Principal Investigator: Lori Peek
  • Call for Quick Response Research Awards. Applications now being accepted.
    • Available funds will support awards in the amount of $10,000 to $50,000 each.
    • Proposals for this new call will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted.
• The University of Washington Natural Hazards Reconnaissance (RAPID) Facility will soon offer technical instrumentation, training, and resources to researchers collecting perishable exposure and health data. Principal Investigator: Joseph Wartman

Exploratory Grants for Climate Change and Health Research Center Development

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative has provided funding to establish exploratory centers to develop innovative research environments to foster and sustain a transdisciplinary program of fundamental and applied research to explore the complex impacts of climate change on health. These P20 centers will help develop action-oriented strategies that protect health and build resiliency at the individual, community, national and global levels.

Funded Projects

Alliance for Community Engagement – Climate and Health Awards

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative has provided funding to establish four sites as part of the Alliance for Community Engagement on Climate and Health (ACE-CH). The alliance will work to promote sustainable strategies that address the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, while emphasizing health equity.

The ACE-CH will focus on community-engaged research, capacity building, and outreach opportunities where factors associated with social determinants of health yield residents disproportionately affected by the health impacts of climate change.

The ACE-CH will model the successful NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) program led by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The new grants for ACE-CH will be administered by NHLBI. Four 2-year awards will enable work to begin in March 2023.

Award Locations

Seminar Series

NIH Institutes and Centers (IC) have joined forces to educate and inform colleagues and the public about the human health implications of climate change. This series will present webinars from different ICs highlighting work in the field of climate change while promoting transdisciplinary discussion and collaboration in this concerted effort against an extreme threat to health.

• December 7, 2023, 3:00-4:00 p.m., EST - The Double Burden of Heat Stress and Maternal Malnutrition on Newborn Vulnerability (Flyer)
• October 26, 2023, 2:00-3:00 p.m., EDT – How Climate and Land Use Change Are Transforming the Landscape of Vector-Borne Disease; Video
• September 6, 2023, 2:00-3:00 p.m., EDT - Toward Building an Aging and Climate Resilient Society: Older Adults’ Vulnerability and Resilience to Disasters; Video
• August 16, 2023, 2:00-3:00 p.m., EDT - Empower Women in Rural India; Video
• July 20, 2023, 2:00-3:00 p.m., EDT - Climate Change and Health Disparities From the Inside Out: Weatherizing Homes to Adapt to and Mitigate Climate Change; Video
• June 7, 2023, 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT - Considerations of Historical Climate Data and Exposure Metrics for Climate-Health Research; Video
• May 15, 2023, Noon – 1 p.m. EDT - Disasters, and Food Security: Impacts and Disparities; Video
• May 3, 2023, 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT - Climate Change Impacts on Neglected Tropical Diseases; Video
• April 26, 2023, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EDT - Health Consequences of Climate Change With a Lens on Social Determinants of Health; Video
• March 17, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT – Protecting Human and Planetary Health: New Unique and Necessary Roles for Health Professionals; Video
• February 21, 2023, 2:00 PM- 3:00 PM ET: Addressing Health Disparities and Reducing Mortality due to Non-communicable Diseases During Climate-induced Disasters; Video

Past Seminar Series

NIH Climate and Health Scholars Program

NIH has selected seven established scientists with expertise in climate and health to work on the NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative. This class of NIH Climate and Health Scholars will become part of the cross-cutting NIH effort to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world, especially among those at highest risk. The diverse group of scientists went through a competitive selection process and will begin work with NIH staff this month until September of 2024. Each scholar is currently employed at a major university or with a research-based organization but will be hosted by an NIH Institute or Center. They will work with staff across NIH to share knowledge and help build capacity for conducting climate-related and health research. This is the second class of NIH Climate and Health Scholars.

• Meet the new 2023-2024 NIH Climate and Health Scholars
• 2023-2024 Program Overview & Application information
• IC Interest Statements

For more information about the NIH Climate and Health Scholars program, contact Dr. Adriana Costero-Saint Denis, NIH Climate and Health Scholars Program Director.

2023 NIH Climate and Health Scholars

Literature Portal

Locate the most relevant scientific literature on the health implications of climate change.

Climate Change and Health Literature Portal

Participating Institutes and Centers

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative is led by an Executive Committee comprising the Directors of seven NIH Institutes and Centers. The NIEHS Director chairs the Executive Committee and NIEHS provides the Initiative's administrative home.

Executive Committee

NIH Climate Change and Health Working Group

Aubrey Miller, M.D., NIEHS, Co-chair
Joshua Rosenthal, Ph.D., FIC, Co-chair
Gwen Collman, Ph.D., NIEHS, Strategic Advisor

Steering Committee

Related Links

• NICHD Director’s Blog, September 2023: Addressing the Health Effects of Climate Change
• NIEHS News Story April 2023: NIH awards focus on communities most affected by climate change
• Cancer Currents Blog, April 5, 2023, Cancer and Climate Change: The Health Threats of Unnatural Disasters
• The Lancet, November 4, 2022, commentary from NIH leaders discussing new research plan on Climate and Health
• FIC Global Health Matters Newsletter September/October 2022: NIH awards help broaden climate change research
• NIH Director’s Blog July 26, 2022: Climate Change and Health Initiative to Expand Research, Build Resiliency
• NIH Catalyst Story May 6, 2022: Why Climate Change is a Health Threat
• NIEHS News Story: Climate change spurs big new plan for health research