Chief Heat Officers Are Developing a Global Playbook for Deadly Temperatures

Cities are on the frontlines of unrelenting high temperatures that are shattering records in 2024. In recent months, heat waves have forced school closures from Delhi to Manila. In Thailand, more people have already died from heat this year than in all of 2023.

The impacts will get worse as global temperatures continue to climb. Once-in-a-century rates of heat-related excess deaths are now forecast to occur as frequently as every 10 to 20 years.

Five urban centers are working to mitigate this threat by deploying chief heat officers, with more expected to follow. These stewards of city life coordinate work to provide residents with relief from high temperatures, to adapt cities for a warming world and to raise awareness of the risks posed by an oft-underestimated danger.

Since the first chief heat officer was appointed in Miami-Dade County in 2021, the network established with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center has extended to Athens, Melbourne, Dhaka North in Bangladesh and Freetown in Sierra Leone. The officials — all women — routinely share solutions, and are effectively developing a global playbook to counter rising temperatures. Given the impact heat is having on people’s lives and livelihood, that playbook will only grow more vital in the coming decades. Bloomberg Green spoke with five CHOs about what they see as the most important functions of their jobs.

“There’s many people that we’ve had stories of during hot nights sleeping in stairwells or under trees because they simply don’t have a way to cool down in their apartment. There are pockets of vulnerable communities who are suffering energy poverty, and either don’t have access to air conditioning or choose not to put it on because of the price of energy. It’s a decision about whether to buy groceries that week or turn on their air conditioning. One of the ambitions that we have within our Heat Safe City principles is that everyone has access to a cool place to go within 300 meters of their house.” 

Krista Milne, Director, Climate Change and City Resilience and Co-Chief Officer, City of Melbourne