Sustainable Energy for All launches first-of-its-kind global dashboard on heat-related needs

This dashboard tracks populations at risk of lacking cooling access to 2030

VIENNA, 13 August 2026 – As extreme heat becomes more frequent and intense, more people face dangerous heat exposure and risk not accessing viable cooling solutions. A new dashboard unveiled by the UN affiliated organization, Sustainable Energy for All, for the first time ever, provides a detailed assessment of global and regional cooling access risks trends, and data for over 130 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.

With over 1 billion people at high risk due to a lack of access to cooling, this dashboard tracks these populations from 2000 to 2025 and projects what we anticipate to 2030. It goes further to provide gender disaggregated data of those at risk.

The dashboard also provides a regional overview which among others shows that Sub-Saharan Africa carries the largest absolute high-risk burden, while Western Asia and Northern Africa have high-risk numbers rising at an alarming rate. 

A comprehensive analysis of 77 countries is also provided, with the option of generating country reports that track populations facing cooling access risk from 2000 to 2025, as well as heat and exposure trends. 

Speaking of the launch of the database, Brian Dean, the Energy Transition Director at Sustainable Energy for All said, ‘For the first time we have a visual and detailed overview of who is most vulnerable to extreme heat. We hope that this dashboard will empower regional and in-country policymakers, development practitioners and stakeholders working towards ensuring greater resilience in high-risk countries.’

Since 2018, Sustainable Energy for All has shone a spotlight on heat-related challenges across the world. It publishes the Chilling Prospects report, which was the first report to define and quantify the magnitude of the global cooling access challenge and call for new and sustained action to address the issue.

The Global Cooling Access dashboard can be accessed at: https://www.seforall.org/global-cooling-access
 

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