Publication: Unlivable. How Cities in Europe and Central Asia Can Survive ‒ and Thrive ‒ in a Hotter Future
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2025-06-24
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2025-06-24
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Extreme heat is becoming one of the most lethal and underestimated threats to cities in Europe and Central Asia, exacerbating health risks, undermining productivity, and pushing infrastructure to its limits. This report presents new analysis showing that without urgent adaptation, heat-related deaths could double or triple, and economic losses could reach 2.5% of GDP by mid-century. The report identifies cities as both the frontline victims and potential leaders in building resilience, offering a roadmap of practical, high-impact actions. With targeted investments, cities can cool their environments, protect vulnerable populations, and safeguard economic performance in an increasingly hotter world.
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“World Bank. 2025. Unlivable. How Cities in Europe and Central Asia Can Survive ‒ and Thrive ‒ in a Hotter Future. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43344 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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Residents of these cities are simultaneously making key decisions about where they live and work and whether to buy such energy-consuming durables as private vehicles and home air-conditioning units. Given the long-lived durability of the capital stock, short-term decisions will have long-term effects on the city's carbon footprint. The third criterion is a city's resilience to natural disasters and extreme weather events. This subsection focuses on how the urban poor can be better equipped to adapt to the anticipated challenges of climate change.Publication Adapting to Climate Change in Eastern Europe and Central Asia(World Bank, 2010)The climate is changing, and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region is vulnerable to the consequences. Many of the region's countries are facing warmer temperatures, a changing hydrology, and more extremes, droughts, floods, heat waves, windstorms, and forest fires. 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