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New Atlanticist

Nov 12, 2024

What Trump’s return as president means for COP29

By Jorge Gastelumendi

If the United States ends critical climate-related policies and investments, then even more Americans’ health, finances, and safety will be at risk.

Climate Change & Climate Action Economy & Business

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What we do

Extreme heat

Extreme heat kills more people per year than any other climate disaster and negatively affects nearly every human activity and society worldwide. The magnitude of the danger cannot be overstated and the number of people exposed to extreme heat only rises as the world urbanizes. The Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center brings together deep expertise to mobilize innovative and replicable solutions to build resilience to extreme heat, protecting and improving the lives of millions of people.

Discover how the center builds extreme heat resilience

Gaming technology

With an increasing urgency to address the impacts of climate change, we need innovative solutions addressing the impacts of climate change to reach many people at once, as soon as possible, equipping them with the tools to build resilient communities.  The Climate Resilience Center uses gaming technologies to educate and equip players of all ages with the skills they need to protect themselves and their community from climate change.

Discover how the center builds climate resilience through gaming

Adaptation policy and finance

Inaction on climate change is not always the absence of action but the lack of informed, purposeful, and effective action.  Policy and finance solutions to the climate challenge require an understanding of the conditions and anticipating the needs of decision-makers, communities, and individuals. The Climate Resilience Center is deploying impactful and sustainable solutions by putting policy into action and paving the way for new climate resilience finance and innovative insurance approaches for people, cities, and countries. 

Discover how the center develops policy, finance solutions

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Content

Issue Brief

Oct 26, 2021

Deploying distributed renewable energy to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on the urban poor

By Jorge Barrigh and Owen Gow

Increased urbanization and related demographic shifts, combined with the growing threat of heat stress, extreme heat events, and other climate change–related impacts, are set to continue to strain urban centers in the coming decades.

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

Press Release

Oct 20, 2021

Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr announces Africa’s First Chief Heat Officer

The announcement comes as several European cities endorse focused action on extreme heat and the protection of vulnerable people, launched by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center’s City Champions for Heat Action initiative

Climate Change & Climate Action Resilience

Press Release

Oct 18, 2021

Seville Mayor Juan Espadas announces heatwave naming and categorization initiative

The announcement comes as several European cities endorse focused action on extreme heat and the protection of vulnerable people, launched by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center’s City Champions for Heat Action initiative

Climate Change & Climate Action Resilience

COP26

Aug 31, 2021

Heat is killing us—and the economy too

Most people know the knock-on effects of global warming by now: rising sea levels, mass extinction of plants and wildlife, worsening floods, fires, and hurricanes. But heat itself is too often overlooked as a destructive force in its own right.

Climate Change & Climate Action Resilience

Report

Aug 31, 2021

Extreme heat: The economic and social consequences for the United States

By Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center

A new report produced by the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center with analysis conducted by Vivid Economics—quantifies the impacts of heat under current and future conditions.

Climate Change & Climate Action Resilience

In the News

Aug 25, 2021

Kathy Baughman McLeod quoted in The New York Times on the effort to name heatwaves

Heat waves are "quietly, perniciously killing more people than any other climate-driven hazard," says Kathy Baughman McLeod in The New York Times.

Resilience Resilience & Society

Fast Thinking

Aug 9, 2021

FAST THINKING: What the UN climate report didn’t say

By Atlantic Council

The report maps a path to avert planetary catastrophe if humans completely stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2050. But is that even possible?

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

Press Release

Jul 23, 2021

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis announces Europe’s first Chief Heat Officer

The announcement comes as several European cities endorse focused action on extreme heat and the protection of vulnerable people, launched by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center’s City Champions for Heat Action initiative

Climate Change & Climate Action Resilience

EnergySource

Apr 19, 2021

Rapid response: Secretary Blinken’s April speech on climate

By Randolph Bell, Reed Blakemore, Margaret Jackson

On April 19, 2021, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered a keynote address on climate action in advance of President Biden's Earth Day Leaders Summit on Climate. Experts from the Atlantic Council evaluate what his comments portend for future executive action on climate and clean energy policy.

Energy & Environment Energy Transitions

Press Release

Feb 25, 2021

Atlantic Council Launches “Stories of Human Resilience” with Anna Deavere Smith

Six-part series captures the essence of resilience through inspirational stories of overcoming extraordinary challenges. Washington, DC –– February 25, 2021 –– The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) today launched Stories of Human Resilience – a groundbreaking video project with Emmy and Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright, actress, author, journalist, and educator Anna Deavere […]

Resilience