Chief heat officer explained

A chief heat officer, or CHO, is a municipal public servant focused on combating the dangers of extreme heat and reducing urban heat island effects.

Most chief heat officers are hired by cities, counties, and other forms of local government. The position emerged in the early 2020s, with several cities in hot climates appointing chief heat officers to try to mitigate the increasing effects of climate change by increasing shade, providing for cooling centers, planting trees, and coordinating anti-heat work.^{[1] [2] [3]} Early heat officer positions were created in Los Angeles, Miami-Dade County, Melbourne, Athens, and Freetown.^[4] The initiative to create the positions was organized by the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.^{[5] [6]}

Eleni Myrivili is the current United Nations Human Settlements Programme's chief heat officer^[7] and the City of Athens Chief Resilience Officer.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dehghan . Saeed Kamali . 2021-11-15 . Stop talking, start acting, says Africa's first extreme heat official . 2023-01-06 . . en . 2023-01-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230106132340/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/15/eugenia-kargbo-freetown-sierra-leone-first-chief-heat-officer-climate-crisis . live .
2. News: Yeung . Peter . 2022-01-21 . Africa's First Heat Officer Faces a Daunting Task . en . Bloomberg.com . 2023-01-06 . 2022-11-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221119004207/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-21/how-africa-s-first-heat-officer-confronts-climate-change . live .
3. Web site: Ramirez . Rachel . 2022-07-20 . Faced with more deadly heat waves, US cities are taking an unprecedented step . 2023-01-06 . CNN . en . 2023-01-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230106132344/https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/weather/deadly-heat-waves-chief-heat-officers-climate/index.html . live .
4. News: Visram . Talib . 7 October 2022 . Meet the 7 Chief Heat Officers who are making their cities more resilient . . 6 January 2023 . 31 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221231002835/https://www.fastcompany.com/90793483/meet-the-7-chief-heat-officers-who-are-making-their-cities-more-resilient . live .
5. News: Moloney . Anastasia . 2022-11-09 . How 'chief heat officers' keep cities cool as the world warms . en . Reuters . 2023-01-06 . 2023-01-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230106132340/https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/how-chief-heat-officers-keep-cities-cool-world-warms-2022-11-09/ . live .
6. News: McLeod . Kathy Baughman . 2022-05-26 . Every City Needs a Chief Heat Officer . en-US . . live . 2023-01-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230106132340/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2022-05-26/every-city-needs-chief-heat-officer . 2023-01-06 . 0015-7120.
7. First-ever Global Chief Heat Officer Announced at World Urban Forum . UN-Habitat and Arsht-Rock Resilience Center . 2022-06-27 . Katowice, Poland.
8. Η Αθήνα αναλαμβάνει πρωτοβουλία για την αντιμετώπιση των πολύ υψηλών θερμοκρασιών λόγω κλιματικής αλλαγής . Δήμος Αθηναίων . 2021-07-23.