Hurricanes and floods have long been accompanied by naming and categorization systems, paired with emergency response infrastructure to safeguard vulnerable communities. However, until recently, there was no such system for extreme heat. In 2022, the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center introduced the world’s first protocol for naming and categorizing heatwaves. By classifying these events according to their severity, communities can take proactive measures to protect themselves, while governments can more effectively allocate funding, services and support to affected areas. Naming a heatwave also elevates its social significance, similarly to hurricanes – consider the stark difference in impact between “Louisiana Hurricane 2005” and “Hurricane Katrina”. In July 2022, the city experienced Heatwave Zoe, marking the first time a heatwave was officially named in advance of a dangerous event. More cities must adopt this policy to enhance preparedness and response to the increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves of the future.CASE STUDY 10 Naming and ranking heatwavesMadrid is warming rapidly, in large part due to the heat island effect. It is highly urbanized, covered in concrete and asphalt, and recent studies of urban extreme heat showed temperatures 8.5°C hotter than rural surroundings. In recent years, warming has been so severe that it has fundamentally altered the historical seasonal patterns of the city.74 To build and sustain heat resilience, Madrid City Council partnered with Zurich Insurance’s risk consulting arm, Zurich Resilience Solutions (ZRS), to integrate its climate data and risk management expertise into the city’s climate adaptation strategy. ZRS helped identify and quantify Madrid’s short- and long-term heat exposure and identified key measures to bolster climate resilience and adapt to more frequent and intense heatwaves.75 To address these challenges, Madrid is currently in the process of implementing NBS, replacing hard surfaces with green spaces, altering working hours to protect vulnerable workers and implementing heat-reflecting materials on buildings. CASE STUDY 9 Madrid’s partnership with Zurich Resilience Solutions These policy pathways allow government, insurers and business leaders to collaborate and innovate to develop extreme heat resilience products and partnerships. The urgent need for extreme heat mitigation and adaptation makes the value of these mechanisms abundantly clear. The foundations for these partnerships will begin with good faith dialogue, exemplified by a first-of-its-kind extreme heat summit at the White House this year.76 Policy- makers play a role in addressing the impacts of the full spectrum of climate risks. Still, the far-reaching impact of extreme heat requires especially strong buy-in from the public sector to enable innovative insurance and financing mechanisms.This development underscores the critical role of collaboration among policy- makers, regulators and insurers in maintaining an affordable and sustainable insurance market in an era of intensifying climate challenges.73 Insuring Against Extreme Heat: Navigating Risks in a Warming World 23

Insuring Against Extreme Heat Navigating Risks in a Warming World 2025