Part of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, our Centre was set up to respond to the challenge of a changed planet. Humanity’s impact on our environment has begun a new era for the Earth and all life on it: now our ideas and institutions must catch up.

As this new epoch - the Anthropocene - begins, we face some of the hardest questions science and society have ever had to answer.

For Science

Global heating and the climate crisis, planetary-scale pollution, escalating urbanisation, ecosystem collapse and mass extinction: each of these challenges taken on its own presents a monumental threat to human health. But these pressures also interact in hyper-complex and unpredictable ways, creating unforeseen new outcomes and unintended consequences.

For Society

We are also working in a politically, economically, and socially charged context. Public health impacts are unevenly distributed; and, instead of uniting us, climate has become weaponised in culture wars that divide us. Collaboration is in short supply and time is against us. But we are hopeful. We believe humanity has the ingenuity and resilience to adapt, and even thrive, in this new era: reordering our lives and priorities to ensure our needs, and the planet’s, remain in balance.

Throughout history, these are the moments when we’ve set aside differences, devised ingenious solutions, and gone beyond what anyone thought possible. We know humanity is at its best when tackling public health problems and it’s our role to help harness this potential for adaptation, innovation and co-operation.

We’re driven by three principles:

From the frontline

We combine our global perspective with our unique connections to communities on the frontline of the challenge. We work hand in hand with communities to develop insights and ideas that can both help on the ground today and point the way ahead for the rest of the world.

Insights to ideas to solutions

We believe whatever happens, knowledge and ideas are our best hope. Part of our work is to spread the belief that science and human ingenuity can prevail. That’s why we combine the drive to control and reduce our impact on the planet with an emphasis on new insights, ideas and solutions.

Power in partnership

We are one energetic part of a growing community that’s embracing the challenges of the future. Everything we do is designed to be shared and used, to be a source of clarity, inspiration and momentum for partners in academia, government, industry, NGOs and civil society, across the fields of environment, health, technology, economics, sociology and geopolitics.

 Our work has three areas of focus:

Research

We contribute to a fast-growing body of shared knowledge, insight and understanding on planetary health, based on the highest scientific standards and underpinned by our parent institute, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Connection

We encourage and support an international community, connected for long-term change. We work together to develop and share findings and nurture the next generation of leaders. We teach students and researchers from around the world on planetary health and support sustainability initiatives across the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Solutions

We co-create imaginative and scalable solutions that can work hard for people around the world and inspire governments, policymakers, industry and civil society to engage.