Secretary-General's Call to Action on Extreme Heat
Crippling heat is everywhere. Billions of people around the world are wilting under increasingly severe heatwaves driven largely by a fossil-fuel charged, human-induced climate crisis. More than 70 per cent of the global workforce – 2.4 billion people – are now at high risk of extreme heat. The most vulnerable communities are hit hardest.
In response to the rapid rise in the scale, intensity, frequency and duration of extreme heat, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on 25 July 2024 called for an urgent and concerted effort to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat in four critical areas:
Caring for the vulnerable - Protecting workers - Boosting resilience of economies and societies using data and science - Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy.
Secretary-General's remarksStrengthening Global Action
The UN Secretary-General's Call to Action on Extreme Heat brings together the diverse expertise and perspectives of ten specialized UN entities (FAO, ILO, OCHA, UNDRR, UNEP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, WHO, WMO) in a first-of-its-kind joint product, underscoring the multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat. In support of the Call to Action, the Global Heat Health Information Network launched a set of Heat Action profiles, mapping heat-related work across 16 UN and international organizations.
Call to Action HEAT ACTION PROFILES
Extreme heat is having an extreme impact on people and planet. The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.
ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General (25 July 2024)
Learn more
Workers, Jobs, Employment
Heat and Health
- Heat action across UN Entities and international organizations
- Global standards, good practices and partnerships
- Case studies in heat resilience
- Heat and Health factsheet
- Heat and health in the European region
- Checklists to assess vulnerabilities in health care facilities in the context of climate change
- Extreme heat - ClimaHealth
Human Security and Mobility
Women and Children
