Heat resilience starts at the local level

On the eve of Heat Action Day (2 June) and ahead of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (2-6 Jun in Geneva) convened by UNDRR, the Global Cities Hub, in partnership with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, convened an online event titled Cities Beat the Heat. The event spotlighted how the phenomenon of extreme heat needs to be examined through an urban lens and how cities, often bearing the brunt of climate change, are pioneering solutions to extreme heat. Featuring three women leaders in climate resilience—from science to city governance and gender-responsive economic strategies—the event underscored the urgent need for data-driven, inclusive, collaborative and actionable urban heat adaptation.

Julie Arrighi, Director of Programs at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, emphasized that the first step toward heat resilience is recognizing the growing and deadly risk of extreme heat. She outlined a multi-pronged approach that includes identifying vulnerable groups, designing inclusive and multi-sectoral heat action plans, and scaling early warning systems. Local governments play a pivotal role in each of these efforts. Julie Arrighi also called attention to cascading risks—such as power outages during heatwaves which then impact on health and food systems —and the importance of integrating heat risk into long-term urban planning via green and blue infrastructure, building codes, and social protection mechanisms. She underlined that local governments were well positioned to play a coordinating role in that regard. A report on these subjects will be published on Heat Action Day (2 June 2025) by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre. As one of the lead authors of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities (due in March 2027), Julie Arrighi previewed the five-chapter structure that will offer a deep dive into urban systems affected by climate change, various trends, opportunities and challenges in that context, as well as urban solutions for mitigation and adaptation. The fourth chapter will be focused on means to accelerate change (policies, education, financial instruments, etc.) and the final chapter on solutions for various types of cities and regions, including some case studies. Julie Arrighi urged local leaders to use the report not only as a resource but as a tool to foster dialogue between local and national levels on the issues addressed therein.

Elissavet Bargianni, Chief Heat Officer of Athens, highlighted the city’s recognition of extreme heat as a major threat and its commitment to addressing it through comprehensive, collective, community-driven strategies aimed at cooling one of Europe’s hottest and most densely populated cities. Innovative measures include the creation of pocket parks, the launch of the ‘Cool Routes’ mobile app, and the revitalization of an ancient Roman aqueduct to support new green corridors and improve urban water management. A key goal of these initiatives is to reintroduce nature and water into the urban landscape, through projects such as Athens cooling havens ) and to ensure that Athen’s green and blue infrastructure is accessible to everyone. Elissavet Bargianni also underscored Athens’ leadership in classifying and naming heatwaves, raising public awareness — such as through the dedicated platform coolathens or through effective storytelling — and providing targeted support to vulnerable populations, including the homeless and drug users, through open cooling centers and tailored services. She also introduced a very innovative “Athens’ Energy Poverty Office”, which supports residents in making their homes more heat-resilient. Critically, Bargianni stressed the value of public participation and cross-departmental collaboration in building heat resilient cities. By embedding climate resilience into all levels of municipal governance and engaging citizens—especially youth—Athens demonstrates that strategic greening, accessible public spaces, and inclusive planning can significantly enhance urban heat resilience.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, CEO of Climate Resilience for All (and former Director of the Arsht-Rock Resilience Center which contributed to appointing Chief Heat Officers worldwide), brought attention to the economic toll of extreme heat, especially on women in the informal sector who typically earn $3 to $4 a day. She told the story of a woman informal worker in markets in India, to illustrate how heat-related health shocks (dehydration, intense fatigue, loss of pregnancies and in most extreme cases, deaths) directly undermine livelihoods and force families deeper into poverty (stories of the impact of extreme heat on women informal workers can be found here). Kathy Baughman McLeod presented a very concrete solution to that problem: the Women’s Climate Shock Insurance Initiative, launched at COP28. This micro-insurance tool (40% is paid by women informal workers and the rest by philanthropies) enables heat-triggered insurance payouts and covered over 225,000 women across India this year. The initiative is being scaled in other countries, including Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia. And it is not only about the insurance. Rather, the initiative is part of a package of solutions for adapting to extreme heat, including raising “heat literacy” and expanding knowledge about how to fund climate adaptation. For that, Climate Resilience for All has produced a Primer for practitioners in climate adaptation finance, which provides basic information about how to fund and finance climate adaptation projects. Kathy Baughman McLeod concluded that while extreme heat remains under-prioritized, an economic narrative—focusing on significant loss of productivity and GDP—is increasingly effective in spurring political action and funding. For instance, she mentioned that Bangkok loses 8% of its GDP to heat and worker productivity, because of the motorbike economy: “Heat is melting our economies, truly melting them. The economy is the message. It is the way to drive awareness and understanding about extreme heat”.

During the Q&A session, various issues were addressed:

• How to measure success in heat resilience? Julie Arrighi mentioned the work of the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance in that regard, focusing on indicators related to life, health, but also education and many others relating to the resilience of various components of the urban system.
• Interesting initiatives to deal with extreme heat:
  • In Australia and in Spain: https://www.redcross.org.au/services/telecross-redi-sa/
  • Several coalitions have been formed at city level – coalitions chaired by the city administration, bringing in local universities or civil society partners, faith-based organizations and the private sector – to bring together resources and create joint effort to advance heat action. Examples can be found in the cities of Choluteca in Honduras, Surabaya in Indonesia or in Unguja in Tanzania.
  • Cool cities networks by C40, in which the city of Athens takes part.
  • Freetown’s heat action plan that was recently adopted by Vice-President of Sierra Leone and discussed during the recent African Urban Heat Summit.
  • Nepalgunj Heat action Plan.
  • California Communities Extreme Heat Scoring System (CalHeatScore).

The event concluded with a call to action: for cities to incorporate heat resilience into all facets of urban planning, governance, and finance. Participants were reminded that solutions already exist—they just need to be shared, scaled, and sustained. As extreme heat intensifies globally, city leadership, grounded in science, inclusivity, and innovation, remains our best defence.

Video

Watch the recording of the event: