As 2025 draws to a close, the urgency of our work at the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health (YCCCH) has never been greater. In a time of deep political uncertainty and declining federal investment in climate and public health, individual and community support are what keeps this vital work moving forward.
Since our founding in 2015, YCCCH has championed the vision of healthy people on a healthy planet, training the next generation of climate and health leaders, advancing groundbreaking research, and shaping policy and public understanding. Our faculty and students continue to turn science into action, addressing the health impacts of extreme heat, air pollution, and environmental injustice.
Your generosity sustains this mission. It allows us to educate, innovate, and advocate at a moment when evidence-based voices are needed most.
As the year ends, please consider making a tax-deductible donation of any size to YCCCH. Together, we can protect public health in the face of climate change.
With hope and appreciation,
Dr. Kai Chen and Jennifer Wang
Please use the form linked above and select “Other.” Then, enter “YCCCH” or "Climate and Health Fund" as your designation to donate.
Fossil fuel dependence drives preventable deaths as temperatures pass 1.5°C
The 2025 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report, co-authored by Dr. Jodi Sherman, Director of YCCCH’s Program on Health Care Environmental Sustainability, highlights that millions of people have died needlessly due to fossil fuel over-reliance, growing greenhouse gas emissions, and failure to adapt. In 2024, global temperatures surpassed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, contributing to a 23% rise in heat-related deaths since the 1990s and 154,000 deaths from wildfire smoke. Dengue transmission potential has risen by nearly 50%, and fossil fuel subsidies cost governments nearly $1 trillion. Yet, cleaner air from coal phaseouts is saving 160,000 lives annually, and health care sector greenhouse gas emissions fell by 16% in 2022, showing that decisive climate action can protect health and promote justice. Dr. Robert Dubrow, YCCCH Founding Faculty Director, also provided technical advice and support to the report.
Researchers call for targeted climate and health strategies as heat- and cold-related deaths climb
A new study published in JAMA Network Open quantifies the mortality burden from nonoptimal temperatures across the contiguous United States (2000-2020). Researchers found that both cold and heat were significantly associated with increased mortality, with cold responsible for a substantially larger number of annual deaths. However, the death toll from heat exposure rose sharply by 53% from 2000-2009 to 2010-2020, underscoring a growing threat in a warming climate. The study also calls for tailored climate and health strategies that protect vulnerable populations. This study was led by Drs. Lingzhi Chu, YCCCH Postdoctoral Associate, Robert Dubrow, YCCCH Founding Faculty Director, and Kai Chen, YCCCH Faculty Director.
YSPH appoints Dr. Daniel Carrión as inaugural faculty director of MPH programs
The Yale School of Public Health has appointed Dr. Daniel Carrión, YCCCH Director of Education, as inaugural Faculty Director of MPH Programs, effective November 1. In this new role, Dr. Carrión will lead curriculum development, evaluation, and coordination across all MPH programs, while continuing his research and teaching on climate change and health equity.
Stronger air quality standards could prevent thousands of cardiovascular hospitalizations
A new study published in JAMA Network Open and led by Dr. Chengyi Lin, recent YCCCH-affiliated PhD graduate, quantified the potential cardiovascular benefits of stronger air quality standards in the UK. Using data from more than 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank and advanced longitudinal modeling, the study found that modest reductions in PM2.5 could lower 5-year hospitalization risks for stroke, heart failure, and myocardial infarction. The findings underscore the health benefits of tightening current air pollution regulations.
This work, part of Dr. Lin’s dissertation, was supported by the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health’s Yuet Mei Chin Innovation Fund.
New study highlights barriers to staying cool in New Haven’s Dwight neighborhood
A new qualitative study published in Environmental Research: Health explores how residents of New Haven’s Dwight neighborhood, a low-income, predominately Black community, cope with extreme heat. Researchers from Yale’s Schools of Public Health and Architecture found that financial strain, limited green space, and restrictive housing policies increase vulnerability to heat-related illness. The study calls for equitable adaptation strategies, including renter protections, increased tree canopy, and accessible cooling centers. This study was led by Dr. Robert Dubrow, YCCCH Founding Faculty Director, and supported by Dr. Annie Harper and Andrei Harwell, YCCCH Affiliated Faculty members, and Alixandra Rachman, YCCCH Program Administrator.
New high-resolution NO₂ dataset for California (1980–2022) released on Yale Dataverse
A new open-access dataset, led by Drs. Riyang Liu, YCCCH Postdoctoral Associate, and Kai Chen, YCCCH Faculty Director, provides daily 24-hour average nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations across California at 0.01° × 0.01° spatial resolution from 1980 to 2022. Peer-reviewed and published in Journal of Hazardous Materials, the dataset enables in-depth analyses of long-term air quality trends, regulatory impacts, and community-level exposures for epidemiological research.
Climate Change and Health Seminar, "Forging Just Futures: Connecting Research to Action to Address the Climate Gap," with Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch
Monday, November 17, 2025 | 12:00 – 12:50 p.m. ET
LEPH 115, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06510 or virtual
Rachel Morello-Frosch is an environmental health scientist, epidemiologist, and professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Her research examines structural determinants of environmental health and understanding how co-exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors drive health inequities. Much of her work has examined this question in the context of climate change, exposures to ambient air pollution, drinking water contaminants, prenatal environmental chemical exposures, climate change, and effects on perinatal and developmental outcomes. In addition to using community-engaged approaches in her work, Rachel also collaborates with regulatory agencies to develop bilingual science-policy tools to assess the cumulative impacts of multiple environmental and social factors to inform regulatory decision-making and advance environmental justice. Morello-Frosch is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, a 2025-26 Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard University, and served on the Biden Administration's White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Register here.
