Mental health issues driven or intensified by environmental changes are a global challenge, yet existing research and initiatives remain fragmented, inequitable, and disconnected. As the Regional Convenor for North America and Europe, the Planetary Health Alliance guided a global project to bridge critical gaps in research and action at the intersection of mental health and climate change.
Together we are rising to the dual challenges of the climate crisis and mental distress to focus efforts that protect mental health while enabling climate action.
Dr. Emma Lawrance
Lead Policy Fellow for Mental Health, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, and Connecting Climate Minds Lead
Watch the trailer video for the 35 Lived Experience Insights from 25 countries that were captured for the Connecting Climate Minds Project. Watch all the Lived Experience Insights on the Global Online Hub.
Addressing Mental Health Impacts of a Changing Planet
People around the world are experiencing mental health challenges caused or worsened by environmental changes, yet research and action to date has been siloed, unequal, and disconnected.
Experts with backgrounds in research, policy, and practice, and people with lived experience have presented agendas for priority research and action at the intersection of climate change and mental health through the Connecting Climate Minds project, led by the Climate Cares Centre at Imperial College London and funded by Wellcome. A wide global network has worked to identify research and action priorities where new evidence will best support changes in policy and practice. Connecting Climate Minds has created transdisciplinary communities in regions around the world and used dialogues to align research and action that can better protect Planetary Health.
The Planetary Health Alliance has led the efforts in North America and Europe by building a regional community, shaping the agenda through dialogues, supporting capacity building in research and advocacy, generating new knowledge, and identifying opportunities to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the regional community.
Bridging Gaps
The Connecting Climate Minds project is unique in developing a global, aligned vision for climate change and mental health, connecting communities across disciplines, sectors, and countries. To do this, seven global development regions hosted regional dialogues to bring out the mental health impacts of climate change from around the world. Drawing together the findings of the dialogues, the research priorities have been identified and were published in late 2024.
Key outputs of the work include:
A series of 35 videos that showcase the experiences of people living with the impacts of climate change around the world
Regional and thematic agendas for climate and mental health research and action
Case studies that capture the diversity of emerging work in this field, particularly in the Global South
Toolkits that: 1) support researchers coming into the climate and mental health space from diverse disciplines; 2) help humanitarian actors to support people experiencing climate-related mental health impacts; and 3) provide guidance on meaningful lived experience engagement
Working together, we created:
An ambitious, inclusive and actionable research agenda that provides the evidence needed for policy and practice to safeguard mental health and address the mental health impacts of climate change while enabling climate action, deeply grounded in the needs of people with lived experience.
A connected, supported and engaged community of practice (regionally and globally) with the right tools to enact this agenda, including greater capacity and knowledge sharing.
