New climate and health research centre awarded SEK 50 million

Spira is led by Petter Ljungman, Associate Professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, and senior cardiologist at Danderyd Hospital. Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University (Stockholm Resilience Centre) are also involved in the research centre.

Solutions that benefit both health and climate

The research covers, among other things, how health can be integrated into climate policy, how residential areas can be designed to promote both health and the climate, and how children’s and young people’s food environments can be changed. Another area is how healthcare can adapt to climate change while also reducing its own climate impact.

“For healthcare, the research could, for example, provide better knowledge about which patients are at greatest risk during a heatwave and what measures are needed for healthcare services to be better prepared,” says Petter Ljungman.

A broad research collaboration

Spira is funded through Formas’ national research programme on climate and has been awarded SEK 50 million for the period 2026–2030. The research centre brings together Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, Region Stockholm, Pep Kommun, Lif, Youth 2030 Movement and UNICEF.