How could climate change affect you?
With the visualization tool you can examine the impacts of climate change in different parts of Finland based on the scenarios of increasing or decreasing climate emissions by the year 2040. You can explore the projected changes in your own local community, compare them to the average changes in Finland, and obtain information about your personal vulnerability level. The input data for the tool can also be other than your own. Based on the results, you can, for example, contemplate your perspective on the different climate policy paths.
Enter the data and find out the impacts.
Further information
The visualization tool compares the current level with two different climate scenarios:
- ’increasing emissions by 2040’ (SSP2-4.5) means that the global climate emissions continue to increase until at least 2040
- ’decreasing emissions by 2040’ (SSP1-2.6) means that the global climate emissions decrease rapidly after year 2020.
The first scenario is considered as the most likely development pathway of global climate emissions. The second scenario is in line with Finland’s Climate Act (423/2022), presuming that the global emissions will be strongly reduced in other countries as well.
The visualization tool illustrates the impacts of climate change by the year 2040 (compared to the present day) with percentages of five different variables for the given location.
- The number of heat wave days refers to days that are part of a streak of six days when air temperature exceeds a certain threshold. In Finland, health hazards and risk of mortality increase steeply when a threshold of 22 °C is exceeded on consecutive days.
- The duration of winter has been defined as the number of days with sub-zero air temperature.
- Heavy rain days were defined as the days when precipitation exceeds the threshold of 15 mm.
- Air quality attributable diseases include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The concentration of air pollutants and the disease response are used to determine the so-called DALY figure, which represents the disease burden in terms of disability-associated life years, that is, the number of 'lost' years of life due to illnesses. ,
- Electricity consumption in households is based on the need for heating, which is projected to change with changing climate in Finland .
Vulnerability to climate risks and health issues due to air quality is dependent on the characteristics of your living environment (including factors such as flood risk and the proportion of built environment) as well as your personal attributes (such as age, income level, education, health status, social connections) , , .
Models and datasets
- Climate models: CIL Global Downscaled Projections for Climate Impacts Research (CC-BY-4.0)
- Air quality model: ECHAM-HAMMOZ
- Modelled scenarios and simulations for the electricity consumption and the need of heating: Climate Service of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and
- Flood risk areas and CORINE Land Cover Data:
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Roberto Astone, R. & Vaalavuo, M. 2021. Climate change and health: Consequences of high temperatures among vulnerable groups in Finland. Finnish institute for health and welfare (THL), Helsinki. Discussion paper 40/2021. 36 p.
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-343-780-7
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Héroux, M. E., Anderson, H. R., Atkinson, R., Brunekreef, B., Cohen, A., Forastiere, F., Hurley, F., Katsouyanni, K., Krewski, D., Krzyzanowski, M., Künzli, N., Mills, I., Querol, X, Ostro, B. & Walton, H. 2015. Quantifying the health impacts of ambient air pollutants: recommendations of a WHO/Europe project. International Journal of Public Health, Volume 60, Number5: 619–627.
https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00038-015-0690-y
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Hänninen, O., Knol, A. B., Jantunen, M., Lim, T. A., Conrad, A., Rappolder, M., Carrer, P., Fanetti, A.-C., Kim, R., Buekers, J., Torfs, R., Iavarone, I, Classen, T., Hornberg, C., Mekel, O. C. L& EBoDE Working Group. 2014. Environmental burden of disease in Europe: assessing nine risk factors in six countries. Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 122, Number 5: 439–446.
https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206154
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Lassila, J., Haakana, J., Haapaniemi, J., Räisänen, O., Partanen, J. 2019. Sähköasiakas ja sähköverkko 2030. LUT-yliopisto, Lappeenranta. LUT Scientific and Expertise Publications Tutkimusraportit – Research Reports. 79 p.
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-357-2
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Rohat, G., Flacke, J., Dosio, A., Pedde, S., Dao, H. & Van Maarseveen, M. 2019. Influence of changes in socioeconomic and climatic conditions on future heat-related health challenges in Europe. Global and Planetary Change, Volume 172: 45–59.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.09.013
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Lung, T., Lavalle, C., Hederer, R., Dosio, A. & Bouwer, L. M. 2013. A multi-hazard regional level impact assessment for Europe combining indicators of climatic and non-climatic change. Global Environmental Change, Volume 23, Issue 2: 522–536.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.11.009
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Ruuhela, R., Hyvärinen, O. & Jylhä, K. 2018. Regional Assessment of Temperature-Related Mortality in Finland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 15, Issue 3: 406.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.11.009
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Microsoft Planetary Computer. CIL Global Downscaled Projections for Climate Impacts Research (CC-BY-4.0) (Viitattu 1.3.2023.)
https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/dataset/cil-gdpcir-cc-by
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Stevens, B., Giorgetta, M., Esch, M., Mauritsen, T., Crueger, T., Rast, S., Salzmann, M., Schmidt, H., Bader, J., Block, K., Brokopf, R., Fast, I., Kinne, S., Kornblueh, L., Lohmann, U., Pincus, R., Reichler, T., & Roeckner, E. 2013 Atmospheric component of the MPI-M Earth System Model: ECHAM6. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Volume 5, Issue 2: 146–172.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jame.20015
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Ruosteenoja, K. & Jylhä, K. 2021. Projected climate change in Finland during the 21st century calculated from CMIP6 model simulations. Geophysica, Volume 56, Number 1: 39–70. (PDF)
https://www.geophysica.fi/pdf/geophysica_2021_56_1_039_ruosteenoja.pdf
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Suomen ympäristökeskus. Ladattavat paikkatietoaineistot. (Viitattu 27.5.2023.)
https://www.syke.fi/fi-FI/Avoin_tieto/Paikkatietoaineistot/Ladattavat_paikkatietoaineistot
- Hänninen, O., Korhonen, A., Lehtomäki, H., Asikainen, A. & Rumrich, I. 2016. Ilmansaasteiden terveysvaikutukset. (Health effects of air pollutants. Abstract in English.) Ympäristöministeriön raportteja 16 | 2016., Helsinki. 27 s.
- Ruuhela, R., Carter, T. R., Rantanen, M., Polade, S., Lipsanen, A., Jylhä, K., Laurila, T. K., Luomaranta, A., Fagerström, S., Luhtala, S. & Gregow, H. 2023. Ilmasto- ja sosioekonomiset skenaariot ilmastonmuutokseen sopeutumisen suunnittelussa. (Climate and socioeconomic scenarios for climate change adaptation planning. Abstract in English.) Maa- ja metsätalousministeriön julkaisuja 2023:4., Helsinki. 43 s.
- Gregow, H., Mäkelä, A., Tuomenvirta, H., Juhola, S., Käyhkö, J., Perrels, A., Kuntsi-Reunanen, E., Mettiäinen, I., Näkkäläjärvi, K., Sorvali, J., Lehtonen, H., Hildén, M., Veijalainen, N., Kuosa, H., Sihvonen, M., Johansson, M., Leijala, U., Ahonen, S., Haapala, J., Korhonen, H., Ollikainen, M., Lilja, S., Ruuhela, R., Särkkä, J. & Siiriä, S.-M., 2021. Ilmastonmuutokseen sopeutumisen ohjauskeinot, kustannukset ja alueelliset ulottuvuudet. (Policies, costs and regional dimensions.of adaptation to climate change). Summary in English.) Suomen ilmastopaneelin raportti 2/2021. 166 s.
- Ministry of the Environment: Climate change legislation