MILAN, Italy, May 4. When women lead alongside others, communities can rise above the heat, stronger, more resilient, and ready for the challenges ahead, said Bruno Carrasco, Director General of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), during a seminar on heat resilience held as part of the ADB Annual Meeting in Milan, Trend reports.
Addressing the event titled “Heat-Proofing the Future: Solutions that Build Women’s Resilience to Extreme Heat”, Carrasco highlighted that “we are at a pivotal moment,” with the World Meteorological Organization confirming 2024 as the hottest year on record. “Global temperatures averaged 1.55 degrees above pre-industrial levels — effectively breaching the critical 1.5°C threshold over an entire calendar year,” he said, stressing that this is “not a future scenario,” but a present and escalating crisis.
Carrasco underscored the urgency of tailored early warning systems, noting that “we need to reach the people most at risk,” especially women. “Health systems need to be ready to manage the impacts of extreme heat, especially for the more vulnerable, including pregnant women and caregivers.”
He emphasized the need for gender-transformative heat action plans, financial tools like parametric insurance, and closing critical data gaps. “We need more sex-disaggregated data, and we need to amplify women’s voices in science, planning, and policymaking,” Carrasco stated.
Despite the rising risks, Carrasco expressed optimism: “The opportunities are also growing — to design better, more inclusive responses to extreme heat.” Through partnerships and investment in resilience, the ADB is committed to ensuring that “women’s leadership shapes resilience efforts at every level.”