The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) considers climate change to be one of the top public health challenges of our time. Our mission to protect the health and well-being of people in the United States depends on healthy and sustainable environments.
Policy and Guidance
Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change
Read about the government’s preparations for climate change in Executive Order 13653.
HHS Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan and the HHS Climate Adaptation Plan
Read how HHS outlines work to mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change.
President’s Climate Action Plan
Learn about the executive actions President Obama has put in place to prepare the U.S. for the impacts of climate change.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
HHS Climate Communications Outreach Strategy
HHS aims to communicate the relationship between our Nation's health and the health of our environment, and the impact of climate change on both in this new strategy.
Environmental Justice at HHS
Learn more about what HHS is doing to address environmental justice issues, including issues of climate justice.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE)
Learn about processes, strategies, and programs to help communities prepare for the health effects of climate change.
Climate and Health
Find resources from the CDC on climate and health.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Learn how climate events may influence worker health and safety.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Fogarty International Center
Gain a global perspective of how climate change will directly and indirectly alter human health.
National Library of Medicine
View journal articles and other information about climate change on MedLine Plus.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Learn about health research on the effects of climate in the report, “A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change” and the related fact sheet.
Preparedness and Response
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
Read about public health and emergency support and preparedness.
emPower Map
Discover how HHS is working to better anticipate potential access and functional needs, emergency plan for the whole community, and assist our at-risk community members before, during, and after an emergency.
Interagency Activities
President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children
Read more about the unique issues related to children’s health and climate change.
- Climate Change and Children’s Health Policy Roundup
The President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children has selected examples from around the country of policies in effect to protect children from the impacts of climate change.
Climate Data Initiative
Find more data and resources on the following:
- coastal flooding
- food resilience
- water
- ecosystem vulnerability
- human health
- energy infrastructure
- transportation
- the Arctic region
Climate Resilience Toolkit
Find scientific tools, information, and expertise to help people manage their climate-related risks and opportunities, and improve their resilience to extreme events.
Sustainable and Climate Resilient Healthcare Facilities Initiative (SCRHCFI)
Learn more about an effort to help assure the continuity of quality health and human care before, during, and after extreme weather events.
Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH)
Get centralized access to metadata, standardized contextual information, about thousands of government-held datasets related to health, the environment, and climate-science.
U.S. Global Change Research Program
See reports and findings on climate change, look at maps, data and other multimedia from the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Interagency Crosscutting Group on Climate Change & Human Health
Read the most recent scientific assessments of the health impacts of Climate Change from U.S. Global Change Research Program, including the Climate and Health Assessment.
Meetings and Conferences
HHS Climate Justice Conference
Learn about how climate change will continue to have significant impacts on people's health, in particular those who are already disproportionately affected by environmental hazards.
Tribal Ecological Knowledge
Discover how Tribal Ecological Knowledge is used to understand climate change, and prepare for and adapt to its impacts.
Workers Health and Climate Change Meeting and Report
Read about this workshop to learn more about the serious health risks that workers in various industries face as the consequences of climate change become more prominent.
