Ten specialized UN entities have united behind the UN Secretary-General’s call to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat, which is posing an increasing threat to the environment and to human health and well-being. The Call to Action on Extreme Heat urges countries and communities to care for the vulnerable, protect workers, boost economies’ and societies’ resilience using data and science, and limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Launching the initiative, UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored that today, “[b]illions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic,” which leads to increases in hospitalizations and deaths. He said the rapid rise in the scale, intensity, frequency, and duration of extreme heat events is impacting economies, widening inequalities, and undermining the SDGs.

Guterres urged governments to “step up” and deliver, by 2025, 1.5°C-aligned nationally determined contributions (NDCs). He urged the Group of 20 (G20) to “shift fossil fuel subsidies to renewables and support vulnerable countries and communities” and called for transition plans from business, the financial sector, cities, and regions aligned to the 1.5°C temperature goal.

The ‘United Nations Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat’ is a 20-page document that describes the science behind extreme heat, outlines its impacts on lives, livelihoods, and the environment, and offers solutions in the form of recommendations.

It calls for evidence-based policies, regulations, and multi-dimensional risk assessments and community-driven actions to protect the most vulnerable. Enhanced social protection schemes, improved heat early warning systems, equitable access to low-carbon cooling, and heat-health action plans are also among the recommendations.

The report emphasizes the need for urgent measures to protect the health and lives of all workers in all sectors and in all regions from the risk of extreme heat through a rights-based approach. Also recommended are provisions for extreme heat in laws and regulations on occupational safety and health, tailored strategies for different sectors and for indoor and outdoor workers, and improved surveillance and reporting for heat-related morbidity and mortality.

Boosting the resilience of economies and societies using data and science, the Call to Action envisions heat action plans and cooling plans, standardized reporting of extreme heat risk and impact data, improved resilience of the built environment and critical sectors to extreme heat, and dedicated government offices with a cross-sectoral heat-resilience mandate.

To ensure the global average temperature rise does not surpass 1.5°C, the report calls for the new round of economy-wide NDCs to include absolute emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2035, “turbo-charged” measures to phase out fossil fuels, and finance to raise ambition on mitigation and enhance adaptation measures.

The Call to Action was launched on 25 July 2024, the week three warmest days in recent history were recorded. It brings together the expertise and perspectives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). [Publication: United Nations Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat] [Publication Landing Page] [UN Climate Action] [WMO Press Release] [WHO Press Release]