While leaders gather at the COP27 U.N. climate summit in Egypt to address how to stem global warming, a handful of officials are working on the ground to tackle the effects of extreme heat in cities around the world after taking a role that did not exist until last year: chief heat officer.
From heat waves in Athens, Greece, to drought in Mexico's Monterrey, chief heat officers are trying to ease the impacts of hotter, more dangerous summers that threaten the health and livelihoods of billions of urban residents.
The position was created through an initiative by the U.S.-based Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) at the Atlantic Council think tank, starting with the appointment of the world's first chief heat officer in Florida's Miami-Dade County in April 2021.