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Extreme heat solutions

Solutions that address extreme heat risk across different contexts and scales exist.

Below are included approaches that reduce exposure, based on proper planning, design, governance, and community-based action. The examples highlight how heat risk can be managed through integrated, risk-informed measures that prioritise an all-of-society approach.

Explore different perspectives on how buildings can better adapt to heat.

Green walls can be up to 10 Degrees cooler than an exposed wall.
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Fatigued female worker sits against shipping container, wiping sweat from her forehead while holding a water bottle and hard hat.
Research briefs
Heat prevention plans help save lives

Heat prevention plans across Europe are already saving thousands of lives during extreme heat, leading to a reduction of about 25% in excess deaths attributable to extreme heat.

Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC)
Laborer standing in a field of strawberries
Research briefs
Analysis provides more evidence that heat standards save lives

As the Trump administration is expected to finalize a standard to prevent heat-related injury and illness for workers by early next year, a new study shows that clear, comprehensive rules save lives.

Inside Climate News
Kalithea, Athens park aerial bird view
Update
Athens reshapes public spaces to reduce perceived temperature

In summer 2025, targeted interventions across the Greek capital showed that reducing perceived temperatures can be achieved when science, municipal action and citizen engagement work together.

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
Crowd waiting for the train during a hot day in London, UK (2022)
Update
Cities are heating up. Better infrastructure can cool them down

Urban infrastructure can be one of the most powerful tools to keep people cool, without relying on energy-hungry air conditioning. The key is focusing on "surface infrastructure" — the places where the physical city and the atmosphere interact.

World Resources Institute
Labourers sit under tagaris (a pan to carry loads like soil) to protect themselves against the scorching sun, as they work at a site in Beawar.
Update
How cool roofs can be a solution to India's extreme heat crisis

To tackle the challenge of increased heat, the roofs of houses in Gujarat have been painted white, as part of a study to analyse the impact of indoor heat on the health of individuals and to show how “cool roofs” can help to tackle this.

India Today, India Today Group
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