5 Causes of Tomorrow #3: Heatwaves
Wildfires on the Greek Island of Rhodes, summer 2023.
What’s the issue?
For years, climate change sceptics attacked the concept of ‘global warming’, pointing to data showing that in some parts of the world temperatures were falling, despite rises elsewhere.
But with heatwaves sweeping the globe for the past two years, and 60,000 people dying in 2022 in Europe alone from extreme heat, it’s become clear that deadly heating is going to change the way we live forever, with people in cities most heavily affected - ‘urban heat islands’ that emerge in heatwaves can be up to 6 degrees hotter than surrounding rural areas. Extreme weather events recently ranked 2nd and 1st in the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks survey, over 2 and 10 year periods respectively, bringing home just how deadly extreme weather is becoming.
What could brands do?
Brands could support and help to scale urban cooling projects, either through direct investment or by considering them as new media spaces. Paris has created 800 ‘cool island’ spaces around the city, and Medellin, Columbia, has created a network of 30 shady routes known as ‘green corridors’ - both are opportunities for brand partnerships.
Thanks to the invention of sunlight-reflecting paint that lowers local temperatures, brands can also add purposeful utility to billboards and murals. Coors Light recently did just that, using the paint to create what they called ‘Chillboards’ on 96 rooftops in Florida, designed to lower the buildings’ internal temperatures by up to 10 degrees to help keep residents cool, all while bringing to life their brand platform: Made to Chill.
Which brands could be a natural fit?
Any brand associated with the summer or refreshing and cooling products, travel and hospitality brands (imagine shaded tours around cities), bottled water brands and water utility providers (installing branded water fountains in designated cooling spaces for example).
Further reading
Why 2022’s heatwaves were impossible without climate change