News & Views: From Texas power grids to Antalya’s extreme heat plan: the subnational solutions delivering climate resilience

In this edition: how Antalya, Barcelona and Lagos are keeping residents cool amid record heat; why US power grids proved resilient under a recent heat dome; and how South African waste reclaimers are building a zero-waste future.

There was a time when extreme heat was treated as an exceptional event: an unusually hot week, an unlucky summer, a warning to drink more water and stay indoors.

But the temperatures this year are no longer out of the ordinary. Among global weather stations with at least 40 years of data, 449 set – not merely tied – an all-time heat record in June. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution consortium found the record temperatures baking Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom were "virtually impossible" in the climate that existed before fossil-fuel emissions began warming the planet.

The consequences extend far beyond the thermostat. Europe's heat has fueled drought and fires, disrupted transportation and businesses, exposed weaknesses in infrastructure, and increased health risks for millions of people. Reuters reported that European businesses suffered an estimated EUR 43 billion in losses from last summer's heat events, while only about EUR 500 million was covered by insurance. In the United States, a summer heat dome has exacerbated close to 50,000 deadly wildfires so far, burning 7.5 million acres.

For many developing countries, extreme heat is not a new problem

A critical lesson from recent heatwaves is that there is no such thing as a universal heat experience. Heat amplifies existing inequalities: a 40°C day in a city with reliable power, air-conditioned office buildings, and resilient health systems is fundamentally different from a 40°C day in a city where people primarily work outdoors – in markets and informal jobs – and unreliable electricity puts mechanical cooling out of reach.

The World Bank estimates that by 2050, the number of urban poor exposed to dangerous heat could increase sevenfold, with the largest impacts expected in Africa and Asia. More than 2.4 billion workers (over 70 percent of the global workforce) are already exposed to excessive heat.

But alongside the dire statistics, local solutions are emerging shaped by the realities of individual cities and regions. Often they are built around the resources that communities already have.

This month, the Climate High-Level Champions look at resilience stories from the subnational level, from Lagos to Antalya, and from Texas to Johannesburg.

In Lagos, you can’t air condition your way out of a heatwave

For a city of more than 20 million people, conventional solutions come with a catch. Electricity is unreliable and costly air conditioners dump hot air back into overheated city streets. That’s why Lagos, Nigeria is trying a different approach: changing the city itself.

Lagos is one of 50 global cities piloting cooling measures under the plan for Greening Cities to Beat the Heat, launched at COP30 through the Global Climate Action Agenda. Satellite records show the city has warmed by up to 2.4°C above pre-1990 levels, and the dense urban core now runs 8.3°C hotter than the city's greener edges. Lagos’ ambitious heat resilience plan includes early warning systems, improvements to building and public transportation design, and nature-based solutions to counter the city’s heat island.

| Read the story

Antalya and Barcelona are keeping Mediterranean streets liveable

Two Mediterranean cities facing intensifying urban heat are taking different approaches to making city life more bearable as part of Beat the Heat’s 50@50 campaign.

In Antalya, where summer temperatures regularly top 40°C, the cooling strategy starts with shade. The city has planted three million trees since 2019 and introduced smart irrigation systems that have cut water use across 2.7 million square meters of green space by about 7 percent.

Antalyan officials also map heat risk across the city’s 19 districts by layering satellite imagery, climate models, and local data to pinpoint where extreme heat overlaps vulnerable communities. The project scored 9.8 out of 10 in a second-phase review, according to Dr. Fulya Kandemir, senior researcher at Antalya’s Metropolitan Municipality, and now feeds into a dedicated heat action plan that Antalya intends to launch at COP31.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, city officials activated more than 500 climate refuge spaces this summer, bringing 99 percent of residents within a 10-minute walk of a cooling facility. The network includes public facilities as well as voluntary “micro-shelters” – pharmacies and shops opening their doors to offer free air conditioning and water.

But officials have learned that simply opening a cooling facility does not necessarily draw people in. Gloria Hidalga Figueras, a science technician with Barcelona City Council, says the spaces work better when they give people something meaningful to do, like cultural activities and social interaction. Expanding Barcelona’s public library hours during hotter months has been particularly successful, Figueras said in an interview with the Climate High-Level Champions, because they “offer services and activities that encourage people to stay.”

The US power grids that withstood the heat

When temperatures soar, increased demand from cooling systems like air conditioning can push power grids past their limits.

In July, US grids were hit with record demand, as heat waves swept the country. Federal officials warned 17 states to prepare for possible blackouts. But many of the systems held, avoiding widespread outages. In Texas, record-breaking solar power and battery storage met demand, while New England drew on offshore wind and Canadian hydropower.

Energy expert Doug Arent, adviser to the Coordinating Council on Grids, explains how the US heat waves offer lessons for building a more resilient power system – and why the COP31 Presidency's 35x35 electrification goal under the Action Agenda is a step in the right direction.

| Read the interview

In Johannesburg, waste reclaimers are building resilience themselves

For nine years, Luyanda Hlatshwayo began work at 3 a.m., racing garbage trucks through the streets of Johannesburg to recover plastic, cardboard and metal before they reached landfills. He worked through scorching heat and winter rain, sometimes earning just 70 rand ($4.24) for a day's haul.

Today, Hlatshwayo is helping lead the African Reclaimers Organization, which grew out of an effort by informal recyclers to organize when privatization threatened their livelihoods. In Gauteng province, where Johannesburg is located, waste reclaimers save municipalities hundreds of millions of rand in waste-management costs.

That kind of community-led solution – keeping resources in use instead of piling them up in landfills – is exactly what the “zero waste” movement, now being championed through the Global Climate Action Agenda, is trying to scale.

| Read the story

UNFCCC Climate Week 4: Implementation Forum Programme Now Available

The full programme for the Implementation Forum at UNFCCC Climate Week 4, taking place 7-11 September 2026 in Baku, is now available. With a strong focus on implementation and practical solutions, the Forum brings together UNFCCC events, COP Presidency events, Impact Dialogues, and Implementation Labs led and supported by Marrakech Partnership stakeholders. The programme will spotlight practical progress through the Plans to Accelerate Solutions: from unlocking finance for agriculture and food systems and decarbonizing construction materials and heavy industries, to advancing water-centred climate action and tackling organic waste.

| Explore the programme

In case you missed it

• The third letter from the COP31 President-Designate was released on 24 August, outlining how the Global Climate Action Agenda will support Parties and stakeholders in accelerating implementation. The letter provides an overview of the incoming Presidency’s priority themes, the planned COP31 Thematic Days, and key engagement moments in the lead-up to COP31. Read the letter.

• The incoming Presidency's priorities and approach are anchored through the annual Work Programme of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, recently launched by the Climate High-Level Champions. The work programme outlines how governments, businesses, cities, regions, investors and civil society will work together to accelerate climate action over the coming year. Read more.

• In an interview with Valor at São Paulo Climate Week, COP30 Climate High-Level Champion Dan Ioschpe said the Action Agenda architecture built in Belém has done its job of drawing in businesses, investors, civil society and governments – now the test is speeding up climate solutions over the next five years. He pointed to blended finance structures, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, and carbon markets as a few of the solutions he is eager to see continue to scale. Read more.

• COP31 Climate High-Level Champion Samed Ağırbaş argues that extreme heat, the breakup of the world’s largest tracked iceberg and shocks to global energy markets are all symptoms of a deeply interconnected, resource-dependent world. He makes the case for Zero Waste not simply as a waste-management strategy, but as a practical path to more resource-efficient, resilient communities. Read the OpEd.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that a strengthening El Niño is adding fuel to an already record-hot planet, with nearly every land area expected to run hotter than normal through October. He called for safer working conditions, heat-ready buildings and cities, and an end to new fossil-fuel development, arguing that the world’s response is still lagging behind the pace of warming. Read his speech.

• Over the past five years, the Race to Zero campaign has helped establish a common definition of credible net zero action while mobilising thousands of organizations to act. The next phase is about enabling those organizations to deliver and scale climate solutions faster. Read more.

• Latin American cities have now surpassed 10,000 electric buses in operation, a milestone spanning more than 80 cities in 13 countries and estimated to avoid 10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year. São Paulo is leading the push alongside Santiago and Bogotá, showing how city governments can combine regulation, financing and public-private partnerships to scale zero-emission transit. Read more.

Mark your calendar

• 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, Koror, Palau, 30 August – 4 September

• Istanbul Climate Finance Summit, Istanbul, Türkiye, 4 - 5 September

• UNFCCC Climate Week 4, Baku, Azerbaijan, 7 - 11 September

• Ocean and Seas Summit, Trabzon, Türkiye, 10 - 11 September

• Climate Week NYC, New York City, USA, 20 – 27 September. Events convened by the incoming COP 31 Presidency during Climate Week NYC include:

  • Launch of the COP 31 Global Climate Action Agenda, 21 September, 15:00-17:00, at UN Headquarters – ECOSOC Chamber, New York.

  • LDC Green Industrialization Facilitation (LDC-GIF), 21 September, 21 September, 13:15-14:30, at UN Headquarters, New York.

  • High-Level Energy Transition Solutions Dialogue, 22 September, 13:15-14:30, at UN Headquarters – Meeting Room 4, New York.

  • Sustainable Urban Resilience Finance Facility (SURFF), 24 September, 12:00-13:00, at Turkish House, New York.

  • Climate Implementation Bridge (BRIDGE) – Announcement of Pilot Countries, 24 September, 13:15-14:30, at UN Headquarters, New York.

  • IRENA Electrification Day – Electrification Ministerial, 24 September, 15:00-16:30, at Turkish House, New York.

• Pre-COP 31, Fiji and Tuvalu, 5 – 8 October

• Building Bridges 7th Edition, Geneva, Switzerland, 6 – 8 October

• 17th Clean Energy Ministerial and 11th Mission Innovation Ministerial, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 11 – 13 October

• PRI in Person 2026, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 13 – 15 October

• UNFCCC COP 31, Antalya, Türkiye, 9 – 20 November