Climate Change, Urbanization In a warming world, chief heat officers help adapt, prepare, and protect

Several of the city Chief Heat Officers who will speak at Perry World House's 2023 Global Shifts Colloquium talk about their work in Penn Today.

Temperatures worldwide have increased on average by more than 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times. And some cities are running a fever. 

For a variety of reasons—including densely packed people and buildings, high levels of vehicular and industrial activity, and low levels of tree canopy—cities tend to be hotter than the surrounding rural areas. With more than half of the world’s population living in cities, that means urban residents are particularly vulnerable to the health dangers of dwelling and working in hot conditions. 

In the past few years, cities around the globe have begun to prioritize the issue of extreme heat, in part due to the creation of the world’s first chief heat officer (CHO) leadership positions. A concept piloted by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) and the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance, CHOs serve as unifying points of contact and action for responding to extreme heat events, shaping and implementing policy, and enhancing public awareness of the dangers of extreme heat. At the local level, this entails the challenging task of coordinating agencies, sectors, and audiences. 

Seven CHOs exist today. All happen to be women.

On Wednesday, March 22, five will take part in “Building Urban Resilience to Extreme Heat,” the first public event in this year’s Perry World House Global Shifts Colloquium. Participating in the hybrid discussion are Jane Gilbert of Miami-Dade County; Eugenia Kargbo of Freetown, Sierra Leone; Eleni “Lenio” Myrivili of U.N. Habitat; Surella Segú of Monterrey, Mexico; and Cristina Huidobro Tornvall of Santiago de Chile. Reporter Rebecca Leber of Vox will moderate.

Read more in Penn Today >>