Abstract
The World Health Organization’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is a user-friendly web-based tool to assess the health impacts of active travel. HEAT, developed over 10 years ago, has been used by researchers, planners and policymakers alike in appraisals of walking and cycling policies at both national and more local scales. HEAT has undergone regular upgrades adopting the latest scientific evidence. This article presents the most recent upgrades of the tool. The health impacts of walking and/or cycling in a specified population are quantified in terms of premature deaths avoided (or caused). In addition to the calculation of benefits derived from physical activity, HEAT was recently expanded to include assessments of the burden associated with air pollution exposure and crash risks while walking or cycling. Further, the impacts on carbon emissions from mode shifts to active travel modes can now be assessed. The monetization of impacts using Value of Statistical Life and Social Costs of Carbon now uses country-specific values. As active travel inherently results in often substantial health benefits as well as not always negligible risks, assessments of active travel behavior or policies are incomplete without considering health implications. The recent developments of HEAT make it easier than ever to obtain ballpark estimates of health impacts and carbon emissions related to walking and cycling.
Highlights
Active travel modes, such as walking and cycling, are gaining broader consideration for their potential to alleviate problems of concern for transport and urban planners, and as part of strategies to promote physical activity and health, with regards to the prevention of non-communicable diseases, as well as mitigating climate change
Health economic assessment tools (HEAT) estimates the impacts on mortality and carbon emissions resulting from specified amounts of walking and/or cycling in a given population over a specified time period
Mortality rates by country and age ranges (i.e., 20–44, 45–64, 45–74, 20–64, 20–74); air pollution levels for countries and cities (ambient particulate matter of less than 2.5 or 10μm in median diameter, respectively (PM2.5 or PM10 )); road fatality rates per distance cycled in selected countries [14]; carbon emission factors for various travel modes, by country, as projected until 2050; value of statistical life estimates [15], by country
Summary
Active travel modes, such as walking and cycling, are gaining broader consideration for their potential to alleviate problems of concern for transport and urban planners, and as part of strategies to promote physical activity and health, with regards to the prevention of non-communicable diseases, as well as mitigating climate change. Default values are provided by the tool These include, in particular: mortality rates by country and age ranges (i.e., 20–44, 45–64, 45–74, 20–64, 20–74); air pollution levels for countries and cities (ambient particulate matter of less than 2.5 or 10μm in median diameter, respectively (PM2.5 or PM10 )); road fatality rates per distance cycled in selected countries [14]; carbon emission factors for various travel modes, by country, as projected until 2050 (derived from international databases such as IIASA’s GAINS model, and speed-emissions curves building on EEA’s COPERT V model); value of statistical life estimates [15], by country.
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