Extreme heat is reshaping the region’s disaster landscape and driving the fastest-growing climate-related hazards, according to the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2025: Rising Heat, Rising Risk.
Launched today by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the report shows that rising temperatures are “impacting all, everywhere,” with expanding and intensifying risks to food systems, public health, urban living, rural livelihoods, infrastructure and ecosystems.
In 2024, the hottest year on record globally, countries across Asia and the Pacific experienced severe heat episodes, including the heatwave in Bangladesh that affected around 33 million people and another in India that caused around 700 fatalities.
New projections in the 2025 report highlight the scale of the threat. By 2100, regional disaster losses could increase from US$418 billion under the current scenario to US$498 billion under a worst-case climate scenario. The frequency of days above critical heat thresholds is set to increase sharply, with South and South-West Asia, parts of South-East Asia and northern and eastern Australia trending toward chronic heat exposure.
Urban centres are particularly vulnerable: densely built cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Delhi, Karachi, Dhaka, Manila, Jakarta and Phnom Penh are projected to become significantly hotter, with the urban heat island effect adding an extra 2°C to 7°C on top of global warming. Vulnerable communities, including children, older persons and outdoor low-wage earners in densely populated areas, face the greatest risks.
“Heat knows no borders; therefore, policy responses must anticipate impacts, reduce exposure and vulnerability at scale and safeguard those most at risk. With urgency, clarity and cooperation, lives and livelihoods across the region can be protected,” said United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana.
The report calls for strategic, long-term action grounded in science, innovation and regional cooperation. It emphasises the need to place heat at the centre of multi-hazard planning, supported by heat-ready early warning systems that use interoperable alerting, agreed metrics and trusted last-mile communication. With only 54 per cent of global meteorological services issuing warnings for extreme temperatures, expanding heat-health warning systems in just 57 countries could save approximately 100,000 lives each year, the report notes.
To help countries deal with extreme heat, ESCAP is planning three new regional initiatives: scaling up climate-resilient and inclusive social protection schemes; establishing cross-border green cooling corridors; and using innovative space-based solutions to strengthen heat preparedness and early warning systems.
The report was launched at the Ninth Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, which is meeting through 28 November 2025 in Bangkok and serves as the intergovernmental forum for reviewing the expanding disaster risk landscape and exploring forward-looking solutions to strengthen regional resilience.
Read the full report: https://www.unescap.org/kp/2025/rising-heat-rising-risk-policy-pathways-regional-resilience.
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