Underinvestment in cities puts billions at risk
Towns and cities can be significantly hotter than surrounding land, and it's estimated that 60% of people will live in one by 2030.
Extreme heat is most dangerous for the poorest city dwellers, the elderly and the young. Investment worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually is needed to help cities adapt to a hotter world, and evidence suggests global South cities in particular struggle to access enough money for this purpose.
Other challenges facing cities include rising sea levels and damage from extreme weather events, such as floods and storms, which can be linked to climate change.
As is the case in other sectors, climate finance rarely reaches the local level, inhibiting cities' ability to protect their residents.
How stuck is this handbrake?
Related resources
Hidden Handbrakes funding has allowed IIED to produce figures showing just how much hotter some cities are now than they were just a few decades ago.
In one piece of research we demonstrated alarming heat increases in major global capitals. In a second our team catalogued the inexorable rise of extreme temperatures in the 50 biggest cities in the United States, bringing home the reality behind many citizens' sense that summer is coming earlier every year.
In 2025 IIED research found that disaster declarations were becoming more frequent in the US, further demonstrating the need for a clear vision of adaptation to climate change.
