Both programs, Cascades and Spira, are led by Petter Ljungman, Associate Professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, and Senior Consultant in Cardiology at Danderyd Hospital. Each runs from 2026 to 2030 and is carried out in collaboration with other universities and public bodies.

“These two grants complement each other. Cascades looks at how big the health risks are and who is hit hardest. Spira is about how we can turn that knowledge into concrete measures in areas such as urban planning and healthcare,” says Ljungman.

Cascades receives SEK 9 million to study how health is affected when several extreme climate- and weather-related events occur at the same time or in quick succession. Examples include repeated heat waves or periods of both high temperatures and air pollution. Using national registries covering about ten million people, the researchers will examine links to cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and mental illness. They will also identify particularly vulnerable groups and assess whether current climate adaptation measures reach the people who need them most. The project is a collaboration with Örebro University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Spira is a new research center funded with SEK 50 million. It will explore how health can be given a more central role in the climate transition. Its research areas include how to integrate health into climate policy, how to design neighborhoods that benefit both health and climate, and how to change the food environments of children and young people. The center will also study how healthcare can adapt to climate change while reducing its own climate impact. Partners include KTH, Stockholm University, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, Region Stockholm, and UNICEF.

“For healthcare, the research could, for example, give better knowledge of which patients are most at risk during a heat wave and what is needed for healthcare to be better prepared,” says Ljungman.