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Extreme
Heat Resilience
Extreme heat is one of the fastest-growing and most under-addressed climate hazards globally.
Extreme heat is no longer a future threat. It is a daily emergency affecting lives and livelihoods right now.
Across the world, temperatures are exceeding 45°C with increasing regularity. Millions of people are struggling to cope with these rising temperatures, worsening heatwaves, and growing climate pressures.
Practical Action is helping communities adapt and build resilience through real world community-based solutions and lasting systems change.
people at high risk of extreme heat
recorded in Akola, Maharashtra (Apr 2026)
working days lost to heat in Asia (2024)
Extreme heat is hitting the world’s poorest communities hardest. Where temperatures regularly exceed 45°C it creates impossible conditions for outdoor workers, farmers, street vendors, and children. For many families, staying safe means losing income. Continuing to work means risking serious illness or worse.
Heat is not only felt as extreme temperatures. It drives water shortages, spoils food supplies, increases health risks, damages infrastructure, and makes workplaces unsafe. Schools become difficult to use, crops become harder to grow, and communities face growing pressure on already stretched services.
For millions of people, extreme heat is not an occasional weather event. It is a daily challenge that threatens health, dignity, and the ability to earn a living. Without action, the impacts will continue to grow, deepening poverty and inequality.
What we’re doing about it
For over 50 years, Practical Action has worked alongside communities to turn climate resilience into a way of life. We help people understand their risks, prepare for climate impacts, and implement solutions that work in the real world.
Our approach combines community-based resilience with systems change. We work with local people, practitioners, and decision-makers to identify the most effective responses, while using evidence and learning to influence policies, investment, and action at scale.
Together, we develop practical Heat Action Plans, strengthen multi-hazard early warning systems, and implement proven practical solutions such as cool roofs, tree corridors, and solar-powered technologies. We support women-led groups, schools, and governments to build resilience that lasts.
Heat adaptation is becoming a defining pillar of our climate portfolio. We’re translating climate science into working systems, turning forecasts into action, and building long term resilience for communities at the frontline of the heat crisis.
By 2027, our work in climate resilience will directly benefit four million people. By transforming the systems that limit resilience, we aim to improve the lives of up to 40 million people by 2035.
Join us in helping communities stay safe, adapt, and thrive in a hotter future.
Partner with us
Corporate Partners – Emily Darroch
Institutional Partners, Trusts and Foundations – Victoria Ireland
