LCAT is a tool which supports local decision makers across the UK to plan and adapt to climate change. It has been developed by a partnership between the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and Cornwall Council with input from The Alan Turing Institute alongside a wide range of local stakeholders.
It brings together complex climate models, adaptation options and health impact evidence. It is designed to help the user understand how climate change will impact local areas and how this will impact the health of the local population. LCAT also generates recommendations for appropriate adaptation approaches, based on the best available evidence, to support the health and wellbeing of local people.
What are the key innovative aspects of the project and the story behind it?
The Challenge: The need to adapt to climate change is urgent and local decision makers are at the front line in this. However, many lack the information, time and access to evidence to plan for the future climate scenarios.
The Solution: LCAT is a free, on-line tool that supports decision-makers at a local level to take evidence-informed climate action. Designed with, and created for, local UK decision-makers, our goal is to adapt LCAT for communities across Europe.
What is LCAT?
The Local Climate Adaptation Tool (LCAT) brings together complex climate models, health impact evidence, vulnerability data & adaptations to help local areas understand the health implications of climate change & what action is needed.
How did we create LCAT?
• Stakeholder engagement is at the core of LCAT’s development. Over 100 local decision-makers have taken part, representing over 50 local areas across the UK.
• Accessing data from open-source repositories ensures LCAT remains free. Presenting this data in accessible formats ensures stakeholders can understand and use the information.
• Evidence reviews began with the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and the IPCC 2023 reports, followed by additional literature searches focusing on health and wellbeing impacts for LCAT.
• Case studies were identified to include examples of action taken by local organisations.
• mDPSEEA framework and causal loop diagrams were used to show the evidence of climate change impacts on health.
Methods used include:
• Stakeholder engagement approaches including co-design
• Literature review
• mDPSEEA framework + causal loop diagrams
What makes LCAT innovative?
• Our co-design approach: Working with over 100 decision-makers across the UK and engaging with national policy makers to understand the wider context within which this tool would sit.
• It overcomes barriers: Stakeholder insight highlighted multiple barriers to adaptation action. By making the tool free, open access, quick and easy to use we overcome barriers around lack of capacity and funding. By bringing multiple datasets and evidence together in one place, we save users time but also overcome issues around lack of knowledge and confidence.
• Using health as a lens: The use of a health lens provides a common ‘language’, relevant to all service areas, and facilitates a multi-agency approach to adaptation planning. Furthermore, stakeholders report that is also humanises and personalises climate change, in turn provoking action.
• It considers best practice: The design considers best practice in climate adaptation, primarily promoting multi-agency working by providing advice and guidance across sectors and disciplines and integrating climate justice via the vulnerability data section & accompanying guidance.
• Use of layering: The design uses layering, meaning that those who are time poor can quickly access the high-level summary information, but for those that need more detail, they can drill down into more detail.
• Visualising complexity: The use of causal loop diagrams offers a visual way to explore both complexity and cascade impacts.
https://www.ecehh.org/research/local-climate-adaptation-tool/