Rapid Review of Belgian Extreme Heat and Climate-related Policies (2024)

Cities are central actors in local and regional adaptation planning when responding to extreme heat. To be able to respond effectively to the increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, cities around the world are updating existing or producing new City Heat Action, Climate and Adaptation Plans. Planning an effective, robust, and flexible response to heatwaves is vital to reduce or eradicate heat-related excess mortalities. The presence of such policies at the city level provides an indication of the level of planning in place therefore, as part of the BeBrit Extreme Heat Risk project, Silent Spring Consultants conducted a desk-based rapid review of heat and climate-related policies to gain a better understanding of the local level of [un]preparedness to extreme heat at the city-level in Belgium. The research questions guiding the review were:

• What type of heat and climate-related policies are present or absent at the city level in Belgium?
• Are there similarities and differences in presence and absence of policies?

By ‘heat and climate-related policies’ we mean policies directly for extreme heat events and where we would expect mention of extreme heat for example, climate and adaptation plans.

Evidence Report