New research released today says Australia should consider naming its heatwaves to increase public awareness of the dangers of extreme heat.
The report, Extreme heat resilience: lessons from Spain for Australia, looks at what Spain is doing to combat extreme heat and what approaches Australia can use and learn from.
Since 2022, Seville in Spain has had a system for naming and ranking heatwaves like cyclones.
“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.
“In Spain, improved public understanding of the dangers of heatwaves, coupled with a national
heatwave plan, has helped save lives. We should consider adopting a framework for alerts and
communications here that builds on Seville’s heatwave naming approach.
“Heatwaves have killed more people in Australia than any other natural disaster since 1900, and
without sustained and ambitious policies to improve our resilience to extreme heat the challenge
will get even harder.”
Report author Rob McLeod was awarded the 2023 Gill Owen Scholarship, which enabled him to
travel to Spain to conduct the research.
Like Spain, Australia has long been used to hot summers – but thanks to climate change both countries now face more frequent heatwaves. 2023 was the hottest year on record globally and
Seville sweltered through Heatwaves Yago, Xenia, Wenceslao and Vera, hitting over 45°C.
The most important way to reduce the threat of more extreme heatwaves is by reducing the
emissions that are driving climate change. But Australia, like Spain, also needs to act to reduce the impacts of heatwaves on the community.
Spain has implemented a wide range of responses and activities to help its population adapt to
extreme heat events. Other key measures include retrofitting housing, reducing ‘urban heat
island’ effects, improving health systems, and local emergency heatwave responses.
Cities including Barcelona and Madrid 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.
“In Australia, as in Spain, the health impacts of heatwaves are disproportionately experienced by low-income communities, older people, people experiencing energy poverty or precarious conditions, and people with pre-existing health conditions,” said Rob McLeod.
“Addressing energy poverty and vulnerability to extreme heat should be central to Australia’s climate adaptation policy.”
