The UK Co-Benefits Atlas

The UK Co-Benefits Atlas is a powerful new mapping tool to help policymakers and communities better understand the wide-ranging social benefits of climate action, based on data modelling by the CO-BENS team at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) and developed in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics.

What are climate co-benefits and why do they matter?

Climate co-benefits are the positive effects that come from actions taken to reduce carbon emissions. While the primary aim of climate policy is to tackle the climate crisis, these actions often bring about immediate, local, and tangible improvements to people’s lives. For example, encouraging walking and cycling not only cuts vehicle emissions but leads to cleaner air, fewer road accidents and better physical and mental health.

In many cases, these co-benefits are experienced more quickly and more widely than the climate impacts themselves. As climate action increasingly focuses on homes, transport and lifestyles, rather than just energy production, these broader impacts are becoming more visible and more valuable.

By clearly demonstrating these additional benefits, co-benefits help to make climate action more relevant, cost effective and publicly acceptable. They help to shift the narrative away from sacrifice and towards shared gain, showing that climate-friendly policies can also reduce inequality, improve public services and strengthen communities.

Mapping the benefits across the UK

The UK Co-Benefits Atlas allows users to explore how climate interventions affect over 46,000 local areas across the UK. The tool is informed by the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) Seventh Carbon Budget, which provides advice to the UK Government on the actions needed to achieve net zero. Combining this advice with detailed data, such as demographics, air quality, transport links and housing efficiency, the tool models how different policies might play out in specific locations, helping identify where investment can have the biggest impact.

Informed by analysis from Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget, the Atlas estimates that every £1 invested in climate action could deliver up to £14 in societal benefits, potentially generating up to £160 billion in national benefits over the next 20 years.

A tool for better decisions

The UK Co-Benefits Atlas is designed to support smarter, fairer and more effective climate decision-making. It can be used in three key ways;

  1. to explore UK-wide scenarios to see the national picture of how different climate polices deliver co-benefits across the country,
  2. to focus on local areas to understand how communities might be affected and where action is needed most,
  3. to support joined- up working by identifying where coordination between regions could lead to better outcomes.

UK Co-Benefits Atlas

Explore the data Atlas to further understand connections between a wide range of social, economic and environmental priorities:
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