**5. Discussion**

The research published in this special issue has touched on three broad areas: (1) a discussion of the complex interactions between our environment and health, including the influence of large-scale dynamical systems; (2) quantitative estimates of the impacts of climate change in health, particularly through changes in temperature; and (3) an examination of the potential for adaptation and mitigation methods to modify the risks to health from climate change. Clearly, multi-disciplinary research on all these areas can help move us forward in understanding the risks and minimising the impacts of climate change on health.

There are more challenges for the future, however. Any mitigation and adaptation action on climate change needs to follow a 'co-benefits' approach to maximise public health benefits at the same time as reducing health risks [25]. Economic costs of impacts based on a lack of action should be calculated, but to motivate policy decisions, economic benefits from taking mitigation or adaptation action are essential. A multi-disciplinary approach is essential to minimise the risk of unintended consequences that are a danger when considering impacts in isolation.

As this inter-disciplinary field of research grows, and climate impacts on health outcomes become more widely understood, the scientific community has an opportunity to instigate positive societal changes, but further thought should be given as to how and where to take action in order to maximise health benefits. To reduce health inequalities, resources need to be applied to the populations mostly at risk, and where benefits are likely to be felt most widely. Historically, the balance of research has disproportionately focused on high income countries, where risks are generally lower [26]. The rollout of global research programmes on environment and health which embrace innovative approaches has the potential to shift this balance towards lower and middle income countries, and to focus attention where it is most needed [27].

**Acknowledgments:** We are grateful to all authors and reviewers who contributed to this special issue. C.H. is funded by NERC (grant number NE/R01440X/1).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
