Unfortunately, such trends are likely to worsen, due in part to global warming. In India and Pakistan, one study suggests, extreme heat is 30 times more likely to be caused by climate change. Summer days in Britain could exceed 40 degrees once every 3 1/2 years by 2100 – instead of once every 100 to 300 years – if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.
Partly because of bad policy, the world’s sprawling urban centers – where black tarmac and concrete absorb heat, and air pollution stifles – are likely to bear the brunt of this crisis. European cities already experience twice as many heatwave days as their rural surroundings. Even in temperate parts of the world, urban areas are experiencing weather that threatens livelihoods; if it doesn’t kill, “urban heat stress” makes it harder to work.
Without radical steps to transform our lives and cities, the threats to health and economic productivity will only grow. So how should the world prepare for the hotter summers ahead?
The most important step is to continue the broader fight against global warming, including by cutting emissions, increasing investment in green energy and related technologies, imposing higher adequate prices of carbon, and funding research into potential breakthrough technologies, such as carbon capture and nuclear. fusion.
Beyond that, doing a better job of measuring the problem is important. That means taking into account not only temperature but also aggravating factors such as humidity, which reduces a person’s tolerance in hot weather by making it harder to sweat and cool down. It also means understanding local conditions in more detail, such as the extent of nighttime heat, how weather patterns vary over time, and how higher temperatures affect in certain urban environments. Seville, Spain, working with the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, has already used these methods to rank heat waves, tie specific measures to each one, and name them, such as storm, to underline the dangers.
Measures to help the poor should also be a priority. The least wealthy, who are more likely to work outdoors and less likely to have air-conditioned homes, tend to suffer the most from extreme heat. The solutions may be simple: In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the city’s pioneering chief heat officer introduced shades to shelter women in open-air markets, and plans to add urban gardens and cooling center. Medellin, Colombia, used a green corridor to successfully reduce the “heat island” effect, where the built environment absorbs solar energy and increases local heat.
That kind of thinking is essential as urban areas around the world try to adapt. Cities should plant more trees and make better use of waterways; build stronger infrastructure to avoid buckling rails and melting runways; mandate greener buildings and better insulation; and require more efficient air-conditioning units and fans. They must use smart-grid technologies to help reduce energy losses, integrate clean power and manage peak demand. Above all, they should experiment with new ideas to make urban life more bearable for the coming summer.
Many of these steps are ongoing. Here’s hoping this summer’s scorching heat will only accentuate the urgency of action.
More From Other Bloomberg Opinion Writers:
• When it’s hot to kill: David Fickling and Ruth Pollard
• Britain Is Burning. India Knows How To Cool Down: Mihir Sharma
• Europe’s Drought Gives Putin Energy Gift: Javier Blas
The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.
More stories like this are available at bloomberg.com/opinion
