BEST-COST is a 4-year EU-funded research project aiming to improve methodologies for understanding the socioeconomic cost of environmental stressors, with a focus on air and noise pollution.

The BEST-COST consortium met in Rotterdam in October to take stock of current progress and to plan ahead as the project gains ground. Our researchers provided updates on the methods to calculate burden of disease and health impact assessments and designing willingness-to-pay surveys. We also looked ahead to the processes for implementing our methodologies in case study countries.

In October, BEST-COST welcomed stakeholders with experience researching deprivation indexes to an online workshop on its Multiple Deprivation Index (MDI). The workshop explored the process BEST-COST underwent to develop its index and opened discussion with stakeholders on processes for its finalisation. Following this, BEST-COST will apply the MDI to the project’s five case study countries: Belgium, Estonia, France, Norway and Portugal.

At the 17th Annual European Public Health Conference, BEST-COST hosted a workshop on ‘Methods for measuring the true health cost of pollution’ to present the research methodologies BEST-COST is developing on Burden of Disease, cost-benefit analysis, and social inequalities. These research methodologies will help researchers and policymakers understand the different socioeconomic impacts pollution has on our health. Participants learnt about the tools used by BEST-COST to assess these impacts and shape policies for a healthier, more sustainable future. During the conference, our researchers also had poster presentations on the different research they are carrying out under BEST-COST, and partners held a session on the economic evaluation of public health interventions.

At the OECD World Forum on Wellbeing, Alba Godfrey of EuroHealthNet presented how BEST-COST is developing evidence-based tools and methods to better understand the social inequalities tied to air pollution and subsequent health consequences. To access better, more granular data, BEST-COST is creating a methodological framework to support multidimensional and inclusive policymaking and reduce the health costs of pollution. This framework will help to create a systemic monitoring of environmental health inequalities in Europe. The Forum highlighted the need to prioritise social and economic investments that consider health needs and explored effective tools to collect the data needed to help us meet this aim.

On 30 January, BEST-COST will host an online workshop on the co-creation of research methodologies to understand the Burden of Disease impacts from air and noise pollution. In the workshop, we will look at how new methodologies can be applied in the BEST-COST case study countries – Belgium, Estonia, France, Norway, and Portugal – to shape policy to reduce the harmful impacts of pollution. The workshop is open to those working on policy around pollution, environmental health, and Burden of Disease.

To express your interest in joining, please contact Juanita Haagsma - j.haagsma@erasmusmc.nl

In the second half of 2025, BEST-COST will host a workshop to test its R Package, healthiar, on quantifying and monetising burden of disease attributable to air pollution and noise. The R package will use calculation pathways for health data and exposure to pollutants to understand the health and socioeconomic impacts of pollution and for policy evaluation. Participants will test its usability and have the opportunity to provide feedback.

If you are interested in taking part and would like to know more, register here.

The METEOR Cluster published a policy brief on the crucial role science plays in supporting the implementation of ambitious clean air policies across the EU. It pinpoints how the METEOR projects are using research to understand the health impacts from pollution and the links with social inequalities and what EU and Member States do to improve air quality.

The first edition of the METEOR Cluster newsletter is out now. In this edition, you can read about the new METEOR policy brief on the EU’s Ambient Air Quality Directive, the latest research from each project, as well as recent events and upcoming opportunities. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

METEOR partners met in person in October to update one another on the progress achieved so far and share research findings, as well as to mark the next steps for the Cluster activities. The Cluster heard interventions from EU authorities on relevant policy issues and participated in a workshop on Exposure Response Analysis, led by UBDPolicy and BEST-COST.

 BEST-COST is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under Grant Agreement No.101095408.