Climate Change Climate Change Has a Hitman: Responding to Extreme Heat

Extreme heat is among the deadliest of natural disasters, claiming upwards of a quarter million lives each year. It is also the tinder for mega droughts, wildfires, and storms, which present additional threats to public health and wellbeing. Although the international community has known this challenge to human security was coming for decades, we remain unprepared. Heatwaves are a public health crisis for which there is no coordinated global response – and that needs to change.

Recent headlines are illustrative. Last year, heatwaves crippled Argentina’s energy grid, nearly melted bridges in the UK, and dried up parts of the Yangtze, interrupting hydropower and shipping. India, the world’s second largest grain exporter, stopped exports of its heat-stunted wheat crops. France, Germany, Spain, and the UK are believed to have lost 20,000 people to heat-related deaths in 2022.

To keep the opening scene of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future from becoming reality, the global policy community must take steps to prepare for and protect people from the heatwaves of tomorrow. One path for action could be through a Multi-partner Trust Fund (MPTF). Housed within the UN Development Programme (UNDP), an MPTF could bring UN agencies, like UNDP, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), among others, together with donors, Member States, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to advance global coordination and local action. An MPTF could finance urgent priorities, namely data collection, communications and awareness building, and knowledge sharing.

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