Planetary Health Matters: Extreme heat is a human rights crisis

The extreme heat the world is facing is becoming the new norm as the climate crisis worsens in the face of inaction — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

I WAS in the United Kingdom recently for London Climate Action Week and the Global Tipping Points Conference 2025 and wasn’t prepared for the heat – it wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was alarming.

Europe has been scorched by extreme heatwaves, with temperatures reaching 46ºC, triggering wildfires in Turkey and Greece and causing mass evacuations, closing 1,900 schools in France, and causing over 2,300 heat-related deaths across 12 cities. Meteorologists are calling this “exceptional”.