THE World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Thursday released Extreme Heat Risk Governance Framework and Toolkit at the ongoing COP30 underway at Belem in Brazil.
Extreme heat claims more than half a million lives every year. In 2024, a record 639 billion potential work hours were lost due to heat and it resulted in an estimated economic burden worth USD 1 trillion or equal to one per cent of the global GDP, the WMO said.
WMO Secretary-General Professor Celeste Saulo said, “The WMO State of the Climate Update 2025 showed that this year is set to be one of the three warmest years on record. We are seeing an upsurge in extremes — dangerous daytime peaks and little respite at night. Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius and sometimes 50 degrees Celsius are no longer the exception.”
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The toolkit, jointly prepared by WMO, United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction, Global Heat Health Information Network and Duke University, aims at providing evidence-based tools to help decision-makers and administrators better understand the root causes and drivers of heat risk and strengthen the governance systems needed to manage and adapt to its impacts.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Kamal Kishore, who is also the Head of UNDRR, said the broad engagement in shaping this framework underscored a critical understanding: integrated, multi-sectoral and multi-scale extreme heat risk governance is no longer optional, it is essential for survival.
The framework emphasises that heat risk governance is not just about temperature. It has close ties and aggravates risks across sectors, like triggering wildfires, leading to poor air quality, power grid failures, transport disruptions and food supply breakdowns.
“Managing these cascading impacts demands whole-of-society coordination. The goal is to enable integrated planning, investment and action by governments, financiers and stakeholders across sectors and scales,” the WMO said.
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The toolkit provides three core tools: assess maturity, operationalise extreme heat risk governance and plan for heat action.
