UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat

Illustration of a globe on fire, depicting Earth with red continents. The background has a radiating pattern of red and orange lines, indicating high heat or intensity.

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.

Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere. Billions of people around the world are wilting under increasingly severe heatwaves driven largely by a fossil-fuel charged, human-induced climate crisis. Extreme heat is tearing through economies, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals, and killing people.

The Call for Action calls 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 Call to Action on Extreme Heat

Call to Action Policy Brief on Extreme Heat

Press Release: UN Secretary-General issues Call to Action on Extreme Heat

The World Meteorological Organization is one of ten specialized United Nations entities rallying behind UN Secretary-General António Guterres Call to Action on Extreme Heat, which is posing an increasing threat to our socio-economic and environmental well-being.

Official statement by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guteres on Extreme Heat

If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere. Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic -- wilting under increasingly deadly heatwaves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world. That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit. And halfway to boiling.