HEAT is an online tool, designed to help urban and transport planners and health practitioners make the case for new investment in active mobility and to quantify the economic value of reduced mortality from active mobility.
Since 2018 HEAT has expanded to assess the health effects of road crashes and air pollution and the effects of cycling and walking policies in terms of reduced carbon emissions. HEAT can be used to estimate the benefits in terms of reduced mortality from achieving national targets to increase cycling or walking or to illustrate potential cost consequences of a decline in current levels of cycling or walking.
HEAT can be used as a stand-alone tool or to provide input to more comprehensive economic appraisal exercises or health impact assessments. For instance, HEAT has developed guidance and practical tools for estimating the economic value of the health impacts of regular walking or cycling and provides input into more comprehensive cost-benefit analyses, or health impact assessments. This plays a role in the Pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion.
Link to the HEAT website
Objective and scope
The Partnership aims at providing specific tools and guidance materials to:
- Estimate the health effects of transport activities having an impact on levels of cycling and walking
- Highlight their economic value.
The Partnership focuses its work on walking and cycling. Its main objectives are:
- Developing guidance and practical tools for estimating the economic value of the health impacts of regular walking or cycling
- Estimating changes to total mortality from current levels of cycling or walking, such as benefits from cycling or walking to a specific workplace, across a city, or in a country
- Providing input into more comprehensive cost-benefit analyses, or health impact assessments.
HEAT can be used to estimate the benefits in terms of reduced mortality from achieving national targets to increase cycling or walking or to illustrate potential cost consequences of a decline in current levels of cycling or walking. It can be used as a stand-alone tool or to provide input to more comprehensive economic appraisal exercises or health impact assessments.
Partners and target groups
The Partnership on HEAT targets its tools on:
- Policymakers in transport, health and environment
- Transport planners, traffic engineers at national and local levels, and special interest groups working on transport walking, cycling, or the environment
- Health economists, physical activity experts and health promotion experts.
The main partners are:
- WHO Regional Office for Europe (coordinator)
- Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism
- French Ministry for Solidarity and Health
- German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety
- Swedish Expertise Fund
- Swiss Federal Office of Public Health
- Consortium from the United Kingdom under the leadership of Natural England
- European Commission
- European Union-funded Physical Activity Through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) project.