Mapping environmental pressures, people and place: Introducing IMED and the Environmental Equity Index (EEI)
Free and open to all.
Environmental conditions play an important role in shaping the health, resilience and quality of places. However, pressures such as air pollution, noise, limited access to nature, flooding and heat rarely occur in isolation and are often experienced differently across communities. Understanding where these pressures accumulate, and how they interact with wider health and socioeconomic challenges, is increasingly important for planning, investment and place-based decision-making.
This webinar introduces two complementary mapping and evidence tools developed by the Environment Agency, Natural England, and partners: the Index of Multiple Environmental Deprivation (IMED) and the Environmental Equity Index (EEI). IMED brings together multiple environmental datasets across pollution, nature and climate domains to provide a consistent picture of cumulative environmental pressures across England. EEI builds on this by combining environmental, health and socioeconomic evidence to help identify where different pressures may overlap and where action could deliver the greatest benefit.
The session will explore how these tools can support planning, green infrastructure, climate resilience, neighbourhood health, investment and wider place-based decision-making. It will discuss practical applications emerging from pilot use, and explore future opportunities. Attendees will gain an understanding of what the tools show, how they should be interpreted and how they can be used alongside local knowledge and professional judgement to support better outcomes for people, places and the environment.
This webinar is free and open to all.
Our speaker
Joe Swift leads the Public Health team at the Environment Agency, working to improve public health through a healthier environment and support more equitable outcomes for the communities the Agency serves. He provides strategic leadership on public health, environmental equity and place-based approaches, including contributions to the Environment Act, the Environmental Improvement Plan and the One Health programme.
Joe leads the Environment Agency’s work to better understand how environmental risks, opportunities and benefits are distributed across communities, and how evidence can support fairer and more effective decisions. He has led flagship initiatives including the Joint Air Quality Inequalities Project and the Blue Space Forum, bringing together policy, research and lived experience to better understand environmental inequalities and barriers to accessing the natural environment.
Joe also led the development of the Index of Multiple Environmental Deprivation (IMED) and the Environmental Equity Index (EEI), helping organisations understand how environmental pressures interact with health, socioeconomic and place-based factors. His work focuses on strengthening the use of environmental evidence to support planning, investment, neighbourhood health and climate resilience. He leads engagement and collaborative work with partners across the environmental, health and research sectors, helping bring together environmental, health and population evidence to support healthier, more resilient communities.
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