Extreme Heat Roundtable
As part of New York Climate Week 2024, the Cool Up programme and the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center co-organized a roundtable discussion moderated by Cool Up’s Programme Manager Dr. Nesen Surmeli-Anac (Guidehouse). This expert gathering convened 10 stakeholders, including representatives from international financial institutions, policymakers, philanthropies, and subject matter experts, to discuss strategies for combatting the escalating impacts of extreme heat.

Participants of the roundtable included:

• Bill Goetzler, Partner, Guidehouse
• Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat and the Atlantic Council’s Arsht-Rock Resilience Center
• Jorge Gastelumendi, Senior Director, Atlantic Council’s Arsht-Rock Resilience Center
• Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer in Miami-Dade County, US
• Adeel Abbas Syed, Regional Coordinator, Climate Change, Middle East & North Africa, The World Bank
• Etienne Gonin, Technical Specialist, UNDP
• Madeleine Thomson, Head of Climate Impacts, Wellcome Trust
• Prof. Halil Hasar, Director at the Directorate of Climate Change, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change
• Alvin Jose, Programme Manager, Energy Transition Planning and Energy Efficiency, SE For All

The roundtable highlighted the urgent need for collaboration across sectors and levels of governance to mitigate and adapt to extreme heat conditions. Key themes included:

• Incorporating Extreme Heat Strategies: The importance of integrating extreme heat strategies into national and local plans, ensuring that all stakeholders are engaged from decision-making to implementation.
• Innovative Financing Approaches: The critical role of the public and private sectors, alongside global financial institutions, in developing and adopting innovative financing approaches.
• Global Data and Knowledge Sharing: The need for robust mechanisms to share data and knowledge globally, enabling long-term heat adaptation strategies.
• Addressing Vulnerable Populations: The focus on addressing the needs of vulnerable populations, including poorer neighborhoods, (pregnant) women, and outdoor workers. There is an exploding demand from the health community and insufficient capacity to respond.

The discussion also explored the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat and emphasized sustainable cooling solutions as key to implementing both heat adaptation and mitigation strategies. Cool Up and the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center reaffirmed their commitment to tackling extreme heat collaboratively and will organize a follow-up event to further advance this agenda.

Cool Up’s Marta Kakol (Guidehouse) engaged in a discussion with Hana Abdelatty, Assistant Director of Extreme Heat Initiatives at the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center, to explore strategies for mitigating and adapting to extreme heat in the MENA region.

In the video snippet, Hana Abdelatty provides valuable insights on how stakeholders from government, the private sector, and civil society can collaborate to accelerate sustainable cooling solutions and enhance resilience to extreme heat events.