Results of Global Heat Impacts and Solutions Survey 📋

Help us beat this heat – we need your input! 

GEO is on a mission to empower cities globally to tackle the health challenges brought on by extreme heat. But we can’t do this without you - share your voice and insights on our Global Heat Impacts and Solutions Survey. Your quick five-minute input can help pave the way toward a cooler planet and mitigate future deadly heat crises. 

Join us in this crucial effort and submit your response!

Global Heat Impacts and Solutions Survey

Do you feel like cities are getting hotter? Unfortunately, you're right. Extreme heat events are becoming the new normal. Climate change and the urban heat island effect can increase city temperatures by an EXTRA 20 degrees fahrenheit.

 ©GEO 2023/Andrew Hebert 

Extreme heat causes an estimated 500,000 deaths a year. Those living and working in cities are particularly vulnerable. The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and our partners are developing a service that will provide every urban area in the world with insights on the health risks from exposure to extreme heat, with emphasis on those in lower-income countries who are affected the most. These insights will help cities develop plans to adapt to heat-related problems and reduce the impact on citizens’ health and local economies.

 ©GEO 2023/Andrew Hebert 

Experiences with heat

With the rise in frequency and intensity of heat events, we are seeing an increase in poor air quality, disease transmission and interruptions in essential services. This leaves the elderly, children, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions particularly vulnerable. Urban areas are impacted due to an urban heat island effect, increasing temperatures up to an extra 20 degrees Celsius. This is due to the materials used for buildings and infrastructure, overcrowding and lack of green spaces. The effects on economies are extreme. The global economy’s estimated cost of heat stress through lost working hours is estimated to be $2.4 trillion by 2030. Unfortunately, those with fewer resources, the poorest, are most affected. In the global south’s urban areas, this crisis costs four times as much than in wealthy countries. 

What impacts has your city and its citizens experiences from exposure to extreme heat?

Insights from a global perspective: this graph illustrates the profound impacts of extreme heat on 35 cities across 26 countries. Our survey reveals that over half of respondents identify health issues as a primary consequence to extreme heat. The data underscores the urgent need for adaptive strategies and international collaboration to mitigate the escalating challenges posed by rising temperatures in urban environments.

Impacts of heat on responder's cities

Solutions to dealing with heat

The service will help cities build resilience to heat by better preparing for increasing temperatures and extreme heat events, and through implementing appropriate policies, plans and programmes, and investments ultimately prevent health and other negative socio-economic impacts of extreme heat. Local decision-makers will be empowered with knowledge to prepare and prevent heat risk and death, and by which various users, such as local governments, NGOs and the private sector can expand and coordinate decision-making to enhance heat resilience. This includes decisions on where cities should be mobilizing their first response services, identifying at risk populations and ways to plan, design, rehabilitate, and manage infrastructure to promote heat resilience (local and indigenous knowledge, green and blue infrastructure provision, social structure for support/check-ins, cool surfaces, building materials, transportation). 

Responding to Extreme Heat Events - Survey Findings

The following quotes provide a snapshot of various approaches and perspectives from different regions and organizations. From concerns about the lack of specific measures in some areas to investments in air conditioning and initiatives promoting green and tree planning, these responses shed light on the current solutions and challenges faced in addressing extreme heat-related issues.

"My city doesn't take any specific measures for extreme heat events... My city hasn't planned any specific measures for extreme heat events."

"Our city now opens up cooling stations across town. Some locations have put out misting stations where feasible. Our power company sends out emails to prepare the community for possible outages and asks that we turn off any electrical items not needed during the heat waves to mitigate potential electrical fires.... Community education and heat index signs/ procedures at community locations might assist/help with ensuring residents know what to do when it starts getting to hot outside."

"Last September was so warm that school hours shifted and some had to close temporarily. Now there will be investments in airconditioning."

"As an emergency medicine physician, I have treated several patients with dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke as as a result of extreme heat."

"Working with the Minister on areas to be designated as green. Tree planting and the awareness of this is important."

"We have to take great care at my job because of extreme heat. Despite working in the heat for much of my life, the past several years I have had to work to remind myself to be careful because it is easy for the effects of heat to sneak up on you. In the summers I kind of re-arrange my life and work around the heat."

"Heat waves are dangerous and coupled with wildfire smoke, as in 2020 and 2021, pose a risk to life and safety of communities in my area. Some livestock have perished during the worst of the smoke and heat. Cities need to invest in updating HVAC systems in schools, hospitals, and other shelters for those who cannot afford cooling. HEPA filters are needed in all buildings where people will reside. Why this wasn't initiated after the COVID pandemic is a failure of communities to recognize the importance of clean air in our daily lives."

"I've personally seen people suffer from heat exhaustion to the point they have needed medical attention."

"DF implemented the project heatwave anticipatory project in Jacobabad Sindh Pakistan and strengthened the government response centres, mobilized communities and devised early warning system and activities."

Research Institution CoLAB+ATLANTIC, Lisbon

"Lisbon has introduced risk assessments to heatwaves in their urban planning practices."

"Sometimes it feels like we have an impossible task; undoing 70 years of vehicle-centric development in a sprawling metropolitan area. It will take lots of resources and lots of political will to make the urgent changes necessary to prevent further premature deaths, illnesses and damage to infrastructure and facilities (both public and private)."

"Buildings in London are not built for extreme heat; environmentally sensitive cooling systems will almost certainly need to be incorporated."

"Our city, Bristol, creates green areas and connected networks as part of a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) ."

View the most recent submissions in the atlas below

About the Global Heat Resilience Service

GEO and the World Meteorological Organization developed the project concept. A team composed of scientific experts will partner and co-design the service with decision-makers and their communities. The Global Heat Resilience Service will leverage the power of high-resolution data, Artificial Intelligence, and cloud computing to help cities understand when and where extreme heat events will occur, vulnerability levels, and what actions can be taken to manage risks. This service will be a trusted, free and openly accessed decision-support tool for all cities. Input data will come from satellites, local surveys, and, existing data.

The design of the Global Heat Resilience Service will be undertaken from early 2024. The project will have clearly defined stages: design, piloting, scale-up and deployment. Each key stage will require partnerships, funding, and in-kind support to make the project a success. This service will be used as a key input for the development of the UN’s  Early Warnings for All initiative . Currently, we are seeking partners to collaborate on this project.

For more information, please visit the  Global Heat Resilience Service  website.

Explore the Global Landscape

To view the geographic locations of the survey results and gain a deeper understanding of the distribution, simply interact with the globe. Discover how different regions and organizations are responding to extreme heat events across the world.

 

 ©GEO 2023/Andrew Hebert 

Impacts of heat on responder's cities