Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is highly vulnerable to climate change despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-related hazards — including extreme heat, floods, droughts, and hurricanes — exacerbate health risks and disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant populations, rural communities, women, older adults, and individuals with chronic conditions. Structural inequities, weak health systems, limited social protection, and fragmented governance further constrain the adaptive capacity. This study employed a sequential participatory design integrating qualitative and quantitative components, centered on a multi-stakeholder process to identify and prioritize key challenges at the intersection of climate change and health in LAC. A two-phase virtual workshop engaged stakeholders from academia, government, civil society, grassroot organizations and local communities across the region. Phase 1 focused on problem identification and thematic structuring across three axes: health workforce training, public policy, and climate-health data and modeling. Phase 2 applied the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize challenges within each axis and assess stakeholder consensus. Phase 1 identified eight key challenges in health workforce training, nine in public policy, and seven in climate-health data systems. Phase 2 revealed priority gaps across all three axes: limited workforce training and continuing education; weak governance, restricted financing, intersectoral coordination, and equity integration in policy design; and poor data quality, limited availability and timeliness, and weak institutional coordination, with varying levels of stakeholder consensus across the three axes. Effective climate–health action in LAC requires coordinated, equity-oriented, multi-level strategies that strengthen workforce capacity, governance, and data systems while addressing structural inequalities and improving evidence-based decision-making.
Background Climate change-induced temperature variability poses growing health risks. The effects of this variability on mortality are well established; however, its specific impact during extreme heat and cold conditions remains understudied. This represents a knowledge gap, as the human body’s physiological capacity to adapt to sudden temperature shifts is compromised when ambient temperatures are extreme. To address this, our study examined the relationship between mortality and temperature variability in Hong Kong for a 21-year period. Methods A time-space-stratified case-crossover design was used in this study. Daily weather data from ERA5-Land and PM2.5 levels from ChinaHighPM2.5 were combined with mortality records in Hong Kong from 2000 to 2020. Diurnal temperature range (DTR) and temperature changes between consecutive days (TCN) were used as the temperature variability metrics. Extreme hot and cold conditions were defined by annual temperature percentiles: > 75%, > 90%, > 95%, > 97.5% for hot seasons, and <25%, < 10%, < 5%, < 2.5% for cold seasons. A conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between temperature variability metrics and mortality, adjusting for other environmental factors. Subgroup analyses by age and cause-specific mortality were performed. Results DTR and TCN were strongly associated with mortality during heat extremes. For temperatures >97.5th percentile, DTR (odds ratio [OR] = 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.90-2.08) and TCN (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 2.09-2.40) showed increased risks for all-cause mortality. During cold extremes (<2.5th percentile), DTR showed an inverse association (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90-0.95), while TCN was associated with increased odds of all-cause mortality (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.04-1.08). Conclusion Temperature variability was associated with an increased risk of mortality during extreme heat conditions, with mortality risk rising alongside higher extreme temperature levels, while during extreme cold, the associations were generally smaller. At temperatures above the 97.5th percentile, each 1°C increase in DTR and TCN was associated with approximately 99% and 124% higher odds of all-cause mortality, respectively. These findings highlight the need for targeted public health strategies to protect vulnerable populations from climate-induced temperature fluctuations.
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are a promising strategy for enhancing building energy performance and reducing carbon emissions. However, most design optimization studies rely on historical climate datasets that may fail to capture the operating conditions buildings will experience under climate change. This study develops a computational framework for the multi-objective optimization of BIPV envelope systems using future climate projections from the CanESM5 model under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. We analyze two system configurations, awning shades and thin-film window coatings, across four cities with diverse climates (Berlin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore), comparing results from conventional EPW files, NASA 2023 historical data, and 2046–2050 climate scenarios. Optimization integrates electricity generation, thermal loads, and daylighting quality to capture building-level trade-offs. Results show that traditional EPW datasets systematically under-predict BIPV performance, particularly in Berlin and Los Angeles. Under 2046–2050 projected conditions, all four cities exhibit performance gains: substantial in Berlin, Chicago and Los Angeles, and marginal in Singapore, with the largest absolute gains in Los Angeles. By 2050, unshaded windows transition to consistently detrimental for building energy balance. Thin-film coatings achieve optimal outcomes at high absorptance, in the 80–90% range, contrary to current low-absorption design practice. Within the CanESM5 SSP3-7.0 scenario examined, these findings show that projected climate conditions can substantially reshape the modeled performance landscape of BIPV systems, emphasizing the need for forward-looking climate projections in building design optimization and the growing importance of BIPV for climate-adaptive and resilient urban buildings.
