Billions Face Cooling Poverty as Heatwaves Intensify

When a heatwave hits and the mercury climbs, most people automatically look for ways to cool down. A fan whirrs away, chilled water waits in the fridge, and the curtains are drawn to block the late-afternoon glare.

For many, these everyday measures are enough to get through an oppressive day. Yet for billions of people, those basic options simply are not available.

In vast regions worldwide, households live in buildings that hold on to heat, without dependable electricity and with only limited access to safe, clean water.

Many people also have no choice but to work outside beneath relentless sunshine. As climate change pushes temperatures ever higher, these realities are fuelling a widening public health emergency.

A recent paper in Nature Sustainability has attempted to quantify the scale of the problem.

Billions face cooling poverty

The researchers calculate that more than two billion people are living in what they describe as “cooling poverty” - facing hazardous heat without safe or affordable ways to keep cool.

The study lands as parts of South Asia continue to endure severe temperatures above 45 °C (113 °F).

Such extreme conditions sharpen the question of who is most at risk - and what practical protection is possible.

Air conditioners are not enough

It might seem obvious to say the answer is simply air conditioning. The authors argue that this assumption misses the point.

“Cooling poverty and what we call systemic cooling poverty refers to conditions in which individuals are prevented from attaining thermal safety, not simply because they lack an air conditioner,” said Giacomo Falchetta, a scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change.

Even as a stopgap, distributing air conditioners widely would be ineffective. The devices demand huge amounts of electricity and can overwhelm already fragile power grids.

“We absolutely cannot air-condition our way out of this crisis,” added climate activist Harjeet Singh of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation.

Poverty makes heat worse

If the issue is not merely the absence of a device, what is driving the danger? The study suggests heat seldom harms people in isolation.

Instead, it becomes deadly when it combines with poverty, poor-quality housing and underpowered public services.

Aziza Mohamed, professor of human geography and urban studies at Cairo University, says this shifts how hot weather should be understood.

“The real danger does not come from climate alone,” she said.

“It comes from the interaction between heat, poverty, housing quality, weak health services and the absence of suitable infrastructure.”

Homes that trap the heat

One major source of risk is the home itself. Where housing is flimsy, it does not shield residents from heat - it retains and amplifies it.

Singh points out that millions of low-income urban residents live under tin or asbestos roofing, which can drive indoor temperatures up to five degrees hotter than the air outdoors.

And when electricity supplies are unreliable and water is unsafe, even basics such as staying hydrated and keeping cool become difficult.

A further threat is access to healthcare. When extreme heat pushes the body beyond its limits, outcomes often hinge on rapid treatment.

Where clinics are few, far away or overstretched, a heat-related illness that could be straightforward to treat may instead become fatal.

Work that offers no shade

Workplaces create another layer of vulnerability. Farmers, construction workers and street vendors can spend long stretches under open skies, with no chance to retreat into cooler indoor space.

Their bodies are often under extra strain because much of the exposure is humid heat, which prevents sweat from cooling the skin effectively.

These pressures are not shared equally. Women, children, older people, minorities and the poorest households tend to be hit hardest.

They are also more likely to be living in inadequate housing, to miss out on healthcare and timely information, and to have no financial buffer to protect themselves.

Two regions on the edge

Two regions stand out, though for different reasons. In South Asia, hazardous humid heat combines with large outdoor workforces and weak policy responses to create especially perilous conditions.

Singh describes the area as “at the absolute frontlines of the climate crisis,” facing “a lethal combination of geographic vulnerability and systemic economic inequality.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the route into danger is different: the near absence of basic protective infrastructure.

Falchetta cautions that even when temperatures are comparatively less intense, “the near-total absence of protective infrastructure means any intensification of heat would be catastrophic.”

Egypt shows another path

Egypt illustrates that extreme heat does not automatically equate to extreme risk.

Although most people in the country are exposed to dangerous heat and humidity, Egypt recorded comparatively low cooling poverty, which the study links to stronger housing, infrastructure and public services.

The heat still arrives, but communities can blunt its impacts when they have the means to cope.

Cheap fixes that actually help

There is also encouraging evidence that low-cost measures can make a real difference. Painting roofs white can lower indoor temperatures by several degrees, while straw and clay can provide inexpensive insulation.

Nature-based and public measures can cool entire communities: planting trees, restoring ponds and parks, and opening public shelters that provide free water - all without relying on a single air conditioner.

To deliver these at scale, governments must support them with firm regulation and proper funding, rather than rhetoric. Even so, adaptation has limits.

“You cannot adapt your way out of extreme heat endlessly. There are limits to extreme heat adaptation,” added Chandni Singh, of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.