First Global Heat Forum opens in Bangkok to unlock finance for action on extreme heat
6 October 2026
The first Global Heat Forum opened in Bangkok to unlock finance and scale up solutions on extreme heat, amid record-breaking temperatures and an intensifying El Nino, the World Meteorological Organization said.
Nearly 600 scientists, business leaders, philanthropists and health experts gathered for the four-day event, which took place as the Thai capital recovered from devastating rainfall and deadly floods.
Addressing the forum, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on every city to build lasting defences against extreme heat and said heat action plans should be in place by 2030, backed by the systems and resources to make them real.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said El Nino literally turns up the heat and that prevention begins before the emergency, with forecasts giving health services, employers and communities time to act.
The WMO said scaling up heat-health warning systems could protect 1.5 billion people.
The forum launched an executive summary titled Extreme heat and health: Global evidence for action, a platform rating more than 80 heat interventions built after a review of 300,000 academic papers, a Global Call to Action on Heat and Women's Health, and a Roadmap for Investment and Action on Extreme Heat that carries the work into COP31 in Antalya.
In plain words
WMO World Meteorological Organization — The UN specialized agency for weather, climate and water, with its headquarters in Geneva.
Heat action plan Heat action plan — A city or state plan that sets out warnings, health measures and worker protections for heatwave periods.
COP31 Thirty-first Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — The annual climate negotiation to be held in Antalya, Turkiye.