Australia learns how to tackle extreme heat weather from Cooltorise and Spanish experience

A recent research release was published by an Australian NGO Renew, which shares the experience from Cooltorise, and several other European initiatives which are being implemented in Spain, showing what Spain is doing to combat extreme heat and what approaches Australia can use and learn from.

“Australia should take a leaf out of Spain’s book and name heatwaves – it is a great way to help raise public awareness about the dangers of extreme heat,” said Rob McLeod, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Renew.

Spain has implemented a wide range of responses and activities to help its population adapt to extreme heat events. Key measures include retrofitting housing, reducing ‘urban heat island’ effects, improving health systems, and local emergency heatwave responses. Cities like Madrid and Barcelona have a set of emergency response services that happen when there’s a severe heatwave, including cooling centers and health teams that work with communities that are most at risk.

The report is named Extreme heat resilience: lessons from Spain for Australia  and the article announcing it can be found here .