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Project HEATWAVE, a new research initiative aimed at improving how we project and prepare for the risks associated with extreme heat, launched today as an international, collaborative effort led by top researchers from ��������Ƶ Health, Georgia Institute of Technology, and , a nonprofit climate research organization. Housed at ��������Ƶ, and in conjunction with institutional partners and a broad network of global researchers, the project aims to strengthen understanding of extreme heat and heat-related mortality, and to develop tools, policies, and technology to support local analysis and implementation of responses to save lives.

Project HEATWAVE (Heat Emergency Avoidance Technologies Working to Adapt to Vulnerabilities Equitably), according to its founders, will be the first-ever initiative to combine advanced climate modeling, public health analysis and policy, and medical and technology innovation to study and help reduce heat-related mortality due to climate change.

Record heat waves continue to affect regions globally, resulting in rapidly increasing populations at risk of heat-related illnesses, deaths, and other health ramifications. In the United States alone, died of heat-related illnesses in 2023, while globally, heat deaths are if action is not taken to limit the effects of global warming. Most such deaths occur and are projected to occur in the world’s most vulnerable regions and communities. Future extreme heat is projected to be responsible for more than in the United States, adding approximately $1 billion in healthcare costs.

“Extreme heat is a growing threat to human health worldwide, and we are in dire need of real-world solutions,” said , the project’s director and an associate professor in the at ��������Ƶ. “Leveraging ��������Ƶ’s world-class research capabilities and the Department of Population Health’s long-standing focus on health equity, Project HEATWAVE will create an effective and equitable road map to protect populations from unprecedented heat.”

“International collaboration to improve climate projections and reduce climate-linked mortality is essential to promote stable communities, economic welfare and social justice,” said Kelly Wanser, executive director at SilverLining, which brings its expertise in earth system modeling to the effort to improve projections of heat extremes and heat impacts from climate change over time. “By bringing global researchers together to examine all elements of the threat extreme heat presents to people around the world, Project HEATWAVE will allow us to create a holistic and equitable framework that effectively minimizes harm.”

The project’s initial phase, from 2024 to 2026, focuses on developing a framework for the analysis and projection of heat-related mortality in several disparate regions of the world. This phase seeks to develop evidence-based quantitative models to determine the combinations, locations, and timing of interventions to save the most lives possible from extreme heat over the next several decades. Initial work is underway, including a project to translate climate scenario projections into population maps of extreme thermal exposures. Subsequent stages may include clinical and engineering research and development for new interventions. The initiative’s projects will expand over time and could potentially be extended to other drivers of mortality, including climate-linked disease and water and food scarcity.

Research will be accompanied by continuous stakeholder engagement, including chief heat officers, public agencies, clinicians, and representatives of at-risk communities to adapting analyses and responses to local conditions and real-world constraints.

Additional collaborators on the project include NYU Abu Dhabi, Emirates Aviation University, City University of New York, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and chief heat officers from North Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Miami-Dade County.

“While we’ve made great strides in implementing our heat action plan, we still have significant gaps in our understandings of heat risk, and of the efficacy of different interventions to manage and mitigate heat,” said Jane Gilbert, chief heat officer, Miami-Dade County. “I look forward to partnering with Project HEATWAVE in closing some of these gaps.”

The project will be launched at Climate Week NYC with a panel discussion, “,” held September 26 at 2:00PM at ��������Ƶ’s Tisch Hospital. The panel will be moderated by Jeff Goodell, the New York Times best-selling author of The Heat Will Kill You First, and will feature leaders from organizations collaborating on Project HEATWAVE.

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Sasha Walek
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