U.S. ‘National Heat Strategy’ Issued in Response to Increase in Heat-Related Deaths

In response to an increase in heat-related deaths and illnesses during the previous four years, the Biden administration has issued a strategy that tasks 28 federal agencies with increasing U.S. resiliency to the effects of extreme heat through 2030.

Issued on Aug. 14, the National Heat Strategy directs agencies as diverse as the Administration for Children and Families, and the Department of Defense to implement four goals and objectives that are expected to increase U.S. resiliency to extreme heat conditions.

The strategy recognizes that responses to extreme heat events are typically a collaboration effort involving state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, as well as the private sector, nonprofit organizations, and community groups, so a major feature of the plan is for federal agencies to take a “unified approach to align and strengthen federal capacity, capabilities, and resources to ensure the nation is resilient to heat.”

While the increase in heat-related deaths and illnesses is a key factor in issuing the heat strategy, other factors are cited as reasons for producing the action blueprint. Those factors are:

• Extreme-heat events are projected to be more frequent, intense, and longer in duration.
• Extreme heat does not affect all people equally, so special attention must be paid to populations who are especially at risk to heat-related illnesses.

Furthermore, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which is a nonpartisan, research agency that provides information on matters of public policy to Congress, issued a report on Aug. 7, 2024, that describes some of the impacts of extreme heat on health, infrastructure, and productivity.

The CRS report — Extreme Heat and Climate Change — says “scientific consensus supports a causal relationship between increasing global temperatures and the incidence of extreme heat.” The report mirrors much of the information in the National Heat Strategy on “the record-breaking temperatures and heat waves” that have occurred from 1981 through 2018. Based on data supplied by federal agencies, including that 1,600 heat-related deaths were reported in the U.S. during 2021, the CRS report says 2023 was the warmest year on record, and the 10-year period from 2014 through 2023 was the warmest decade on record since 1880.

In addition, 2024 might break 2023’s record for the hottest year ever with July 22, 2024 recorded as the hottest day ever on Earth, and July 21 and 23, 2024, also surpassing temperatures set in 2023. Such high temperatures increase demand for air conditioning, and refrigeration, thereby straining the power grid, says the CRS report, which adds that during the summer of 2023, the demand for power put about two-thirds of North America at risk for insufficient operating reserves of electricity.  

Building off groundwork established by the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), which is an interagency information system designed to develop and provide actionable, science-based information to help protect people from the impacts of extreme-heat conditions, the National Heat Strategy outlines four “goals” to guide federal agencies’ policies and programs that can increase U.S. resiliency to extreme-heat conditions. The goals and some of the directions to the agencies are:

• Goal 1: Communication, Outreach, and Education. The agencies are to understand the needs and perceptions of the public, and to expand awareness of extreme heat while inspiring public action to address the impacts of extreme heat and to increase opportunities for education, training, and knowledge at all levels.
• Goal 2: Science. The agencies are to advance understanding of heat and its impacts in order to develop science-based services and solutions that enhance resilience by conducting research on the effect heat is having on health, the economy, the environment, infrastructure, population, migration, disasters, and conflict.        
• Goal 3: Solutions. The agencies are to improve and facilitate an integrated approach with access to heat information, services, and solutions to support international, national, state, local, territorial, tribal, and individual actions that conduct assessments to identify at-risk populations, systems, and infrastructure.         
• Goal 4: Support. The agencies are to help solidify the NIHHIS as the primary integrated federal source for heat-related health information and solutions, and enhance interagency coordination and collaboration to identify gaps in available resources and information, and facilitate action.

Reflecting the emphasis on collaboration within the National Heat Strategy, Ben Grumbles, the executive director of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), a coalition of state and territorial environmental agencies, told ACHR NEWS that “states and their communities are very much aware of the widespread threats to public health, ecosystem health, and animal health from extreme heat,” and the ECOS is responding accordingly.

ECOS’ responses include establishing the “bipartisan, regionally diverse Climate and Energy Workgroup to examine ways to reduce risk and increase resilience,” said Grumbles, who added the workgroup supports “green and blue infrastructure, also known as nature-based solutions.” Green and blue infrastructure can supplement gray infrastructure thereby reducing heat, increasing health, and adding economic value, he said. 

Click here to read the National Heat Strategy.