Climate services for heat-health protection

This policy brief summarises evidence on climate services for heat and health developed through research projects funded by the Belmont Forum and the EU Horizon 2020 programmes. Climate services include weather forecasts, climate information, seasonal forecasts, and projections of future climates. Many countries are already working with National Meteorological Services to develop heat-health warning systems using daily temperature forecasts. Heat-health warning systems provide timely warnings to emergency management and health authorities during heatwaves, and cascading alerts allowing individuals or care givers to undertake preventive actions during heatwaves.

Key policy recommendations and research recommendations include: 

• Climate service providers need to work with employers to develop targeted services and allow workloads to be reduced during extreme heat days.
• Climate services require sustainable investment to develop and operationalise effective services in partnership with the health sector
• More research is needed on climate services for populations in South and Central America, Africa, and Asia.
• More research is needed to evaluate the benefit of using new digital technologies and the dissemination of heat messages.