CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH EQUITY

Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators for California

Indicators, data, and narratives to assess exposures, social vulnerability and adaptive capacity

Background

The CDPH Climate Change and Health Equity (CCHE) Branch developed climate change and health indicators, narratives, and data to provide local health departments and partners tools to better understand the people and places in their jurisdictions that are more susceptible to adverse health impacts associated with climate change, specifically extreme heat, wildfire, sea level rise, drought, and poor air quality. The assessment data can be used to screen and prioritize where to focus deeper analysis and plan for public health actions to increase resilience.

CCHVIz

View the CCHVIz interactive data visualization platform for the Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators:

Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Assessment Framework

Vulnerability assessments are a key tool to begin to prepare and plan for resilience to climate change and health impacts. A climate change and health vulnerability assessment helps to identify where a person’s or neighborhood’s susceptibilities to injury or disease exist due to their distance and sensitivity to climate-related environmental exposures or hazards. Adaptive capacity can offset the potential for injury and disease from exposure and sensitivity to hazards associated with climate change. Understanding more about neighborhoods and populations with multiple or complex social vulnerabilities can improve prioritization of efforts, inclusive planning, communication, and evaluation of adaptation and interventions developed to protect communities from the effects of climate change. The suite of domains and indicators focus on assessing current and future climate change exposures (such as wildfires, extreme heat, air pollution, sea level rise, and drought), the people and places most susceptible to health risks from climate exposures, and the capacity to adapt to a changing climate. For more information on adaptation planning for climate change and public health, visit the Climate Change and Health Profile reports, the CalBRACE Project, and the Resources and Tools.

Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Data and Indicators

The CDPH Climate Change and Health Equity Branch produced climate change and health vulnerability indicators for download using the links below. Each indicator includes the data in an Excel file as well as a narrative in PDF format. Each narrative describes the indicator’s significance to climate change and health, the evidence that links the indicator to health outcomes, data sources, bibliographic references, methodology, and limitations that impact the interpretation of the indicator. Examples of maps, charts, and tables are also included. We invite you to download the data and narrative files and use them to create maps, charts, and tables of your own counties and communities.

The most up to date climate change data for California can be viewed and downloaded from Cal-Adapt.

The indicators are organized in three domains: Environmental Exposures, Population Sensitivity and Adaptive Capacity.

Environmental Exposures Domain

Environmental exposure refers to the magnitude, frequency, and duration of an environmental exposure or disease risk.

Indicator Short Name	Indicator Definition	Narrative
Extreme Heat Days	Projected number of extreme heat days	Extreme Heat Days Narrative
Air Quality (PM2.5)	Three-year annual mean concentration of particulate matter (PM2.5)	Fine Particulate Air Pollution Narrative
Air Quality (Ozone)	Three-year average daily maximum ozone concentration	Ozone Air Pollution Narrative
Drought	Palmer Drought Severity Index	Drought Risk Narrative
Wildfires	Percent of population currently living in high fire risk hazard zone	Wildfire Risk Narrative
Sea Level Rise	Percent of population living in 100-year flood zone and 55 inches of sea level rise	Sea Level Rise Narrative

Population Sensitivity Domain

Sensitivity refers to the physiological and socio-economic factors which directly or indirectly affect the degree to which a population is impacted by climate-related changes.

Indicator Short Name	Indicator Definition	Narrative
Children	Percent of population aged less than 5 years	Children Narrative
Older Population	Percent of population aged 65 years or older	Older Population Narrative
Poverty	Percent of population whose income in the past year was below poverty level	Poverty Narrative
Education	Percent of population aged >=25 years with less than a four-year college educational attainment	Education Narrative
Race and Ethnicity	Percent of population of color	Race and Ethnicity Narrative
Outdoor Workers	Percent of population employed and aged >=16 years working outdoors	Outdoor Workers Narrative
Vehicle Ownership	Percent of occupied households with no vehicle ownership	Vehicle Ownership Narrative
Linguistic Isolation	Percent of households with no one aged >=14 years speaking English	Linguistic Isolation Narrative
Physical and Mental Disability	Percent of population living with physical disability Percent of population living with mental disability	Physical and Mental Disability Narrative
Health Insurance	Percent of population without health insurance	Health Insurance Narrative
Violent Crime Rate	Number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents	Violent Crime Rate Narrative

Adaptive Capacity Domain

Adaptive capacity refers to the broad range of responses and adjustments to the impacts of climate change, including the capacity to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with the consequences.

Indicator Short Name	Indicator Definition	Narrative
Air Conditioning	Percent of households without air conditioning	Air Conditioning Narrative
Tree Canopy	Percent of area not covered by tree canopy	Tree Canopy Narrative
Impervious Surfaces	Percent of area covered by impervious surfaces	Impervious Surfaces Narrative
Public Transit Access	Percent of population not residing within 0.5 mile of bus/ferry/ferry stop with <15 minutes waiting time during peak commute hours	Public Transit Access Narrative

Products

Data and Indicators: Excel files with data for California, its counties, cities, towns, and census tracts (depending on availability) and narratives in PDF files for each indicator.

The CDPH Climate Change and Health Equity Branch developed the Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators utilizing the same methods used by the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project (HCI). For technical assistance and questions regarding the Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators, please contact climatechange@cdph.ca.gov.

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