Climate action can deliver quality-of-life benefits, new study finds
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
Climate action can improve people’s quality of life, and strategies targeting how energy and resources are used may generate particularly broad benefits.
This is the main conclusion of a new study published in Communications Sustainability, a Nature portfolio journal, co-authored by DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte researchers Nuno Bento and Tiago Louro Alves. The research combines energy-system modelling across 18 countries with representative surveys in Brazil, China and the Netherlands, assessing impacts on health, energy security, employment, household income, environmental conditions and equity.
The results show that both demand- and supply-side climate strategies can improve overall quality of life. However, when compared for the same reduction in carbon emissions, demand-side strategies tend to perform better across a wider range of dimensions.
Respondents generally expected both types of strategies to improve their lives and considered them acceptable. Providing information about their wider quality-of-life benefits further increased positive evaluations, highlighting the importance of assessing and communicating climate action beyond emissions reductions and economic costs.
Read the open-access article:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-026-00101-2