At the National Conference on Health Economics and Health Policy 2025 (Πανελλήνιο Συνέδριο για τα Οικονομικά και τις Πολιτικές της Υγείας), held in Athens, on 9–11 December 2025 Professor Phoebe Koundouri contributed to the roundtable discussion entitled “Climate Change, Environment, Economy, and Health.” The session examined the complex interlinkages between climate change, environmental degradation, economic systems, and their combined impacts on public health.
Moderated by Elias Demian (IOBE), the roundtable provided a multidisciplinary perspective on how climate and environmental pressures translate into economic costs and health outcomes.
Professor Koundouri’s intervention presented a synthesis of research conducted at AE4RIA – Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria, focusing on systems science transformations for sustainable development. Her contribution emphasized the economic valuation of physical and mental health impacts arising from the loss of resilience and regenerative capacity across natural, infrastructural, economic, and social systems. She further outlined a systems-based framework for the optimal—efficient, resilient, and just—dynamic and spatial management of natural, human, social, and accounting capital, underscoring its importance for integrated policy design and for identifying pathways out of the current state of permanent multi-crisis.
The roundtable featured contributions from Agis Tsouros, MD, PhD, FFPH (UK) (Adjunct Professor, Boston University; former WHO Europe), Dimosthenis Sarigiannis (Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and Andreas Papandreou (Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).
