A chief heat officer, or CHO, is a municipal public servant focused on combating the dangers of extreme heat and reducing urban heat island effects.
Most chief heat officers are hired by cities, counties, and other forms of local government. The position emerged in the early 2020s, with several cities in hot climates appointing chief heat officers to try to mitigate the increasing effects of climate change by increasing shade, providing for cooling centers, planting trees, and coordinating anti-heat work. [1] [2] [3] Early heat officer positions were created in Los Angeles, Miami-Dade County, Melbourne, Athens, and Freetown. [4] The initiative to create the positions was organized by the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht- Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center. [5] [6]
Eleni Myrivili is the current United Nations Human Settlements Programme's chief heat officer [7] and the City of Athens Chief Resilience Officer. [8]
References
- ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (2021-11-15). "Stop talking, start acting, says Africa's first extreme heat official". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- ^ Yeung, Peter (2022-01-21). "Africa's First Heat Officer Faces a Daunting Task". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- ^ Ramirez, Rachel (2022-07-20). "Faced with more deadly heat waves, US cities are taking an unprecedented step". CNN. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- ^ Visram, Talib (7 October 2022). "Meet the 7 Chief Heat Officers who are making their cities more resilient". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ Moloney, Anastasia (2022-11-09). "How 'chief heat officers' keep cities cool as the world warms". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- ^ McLeod, Kathy Baughman (2022-05-26). "Every City Needs a Chief Heat Officer". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- ^ "First-ever Global Chief Heat Officer Announced at World Urban Forum" (PDF) (Press release). Katowice, Poland: UN-Habitat and Arsht-Rock Resilience Center. 2022-06-27.
- ^ "Η Αθήνα αναλαμβάνει πρωτοβουλία για την αντιμετώπιση των πολύ υψηλών θερμοκρασιών λόγω κλιματικής αλλαγής" (Press release). Δήμος Αθηναίων. 2021-07-23.
Further reading
- Fitzgerald, Michael (Spring 2023), "Climate change puts chief heat officers in the hot seat", Harvard Public Health
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