Beating the Heat: Unleashing Sustainable Urban Cooling Solutions

Beating the Heat: Unleashing Sustainable Urban Cooling Solutions

Urban areas are on the front lines of climate change, with cities especially vulnerable to the growing heat crisis. By 2100, cities across the world could warm by 4.4°C, exposing the world’s growing urban population to conditions that will damage human health, productivity, and quality of life. India is particularly impacted by the rising heat - by the 2030s up to 200 million people in India could be exposed to lethal heatwaves.  

Ensuring access to thermal comfort in our cities is key, but we cannot just air condition our way out of the extreme heat challenge. Cities must take a comprehensive, whole-systems approach to cool cities, without warming the planet. . We have the solutions we need to fight extreme heat and sustainably increase heat resilience. But they need scaled-up implementation, investment, and tailoring to local contexts.  

The goal of the event is to provide a call to action to local and national governments, funders, investors, and solutions providers about the urgent need for sustainable cooling, nature-based solutions, and heat resilience in cities. The event will also highlight positive examples to date, including the ambitious efforts ongoing in India. A panel discussion will showcase champion cities’, national government, and other organizations’ efforts to build resilience to extreme heat in cities across the globe.