🌡️ Heat resilience, UK and India

Heat is the quiet emergency.

It does not flood a street or burn a hillside, so it slips past the headlines. Yet heat is now one of the deadliest risks on Earth, and most of its victims are never counted. HeatAction is being built to change that.

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Right now

This is happening as you read.

Europe, this week

A record heat dome settled over the continent around the summer solstice, pushing temperatures 14 to 18°C above normal. The UK had its hottest June day ever, near 38°C. Spain and Portugal reached 42.7°C. France set all-time records, and at least 18 people died, including children and older people.

India, this year

Temperatures reached 48.2°C, the hottest place on the planet. On one spring day, all 50 of the world's hottest cities were in India. A single day of extreme heat is estimated to cause around 3,400 excess deaths across the country. A five-day heatwave, close to 30,000.

Sources: June 2026 European heatwave records (CNN, TIME, severe-weather.eu); India heat-mortality studies, 2026 (Euronews, World Weather Attribution). Heat is now among the deadliest climate hazards, and it reaches the most exposed first.

Why this is personal
Surendran pouring tea

"That's my maternal uncle, Surendran. He pours 800 to 1,000 cups of tea a day in Punalur, one of the hottest towns in Kerala."

This summer the air neared 40°C, and in Kerala's humidity the wet-bulb temperature passed 30°C, edging toward the point where the body can no longer cool itself. He stands beside a boiling kettle. No fan, no AC.

We notice floods. We notice fires. We never notice heat, because it kills quietly, and it reaches people like Surendran first.

That is why HeatAction exists: to help the most exposed adapt, before the heat does its quiet work.

Sanju Soman, founder

What we're setting out to do

HeatAction is just beginning. Here is the plan.

🇬🇧

In the UK

Build heat-resilience leadership and capacity, run people-centred research, and create simple, open tools that communities can actually use.

🌴

In India

Practical heat protection on the ground, starting in Punalur, Kerala. Cooling, shade and support for the people most exposed, like Surendran.

And we will start by bringing people together, because when a heatwave hits, it is the communities who know each other that cope best.

How it will be funded

Funded by shared experiences.

The idea is simple. We will host experiences people love, cooking, wellness, skill-shares and more, and every ticket will help fund heat-action work in the UK and India. You have a good time, and someone gets safer because you did.

We're just getting started

More is coming soon.

Programmes, experiences and ways to support are taking shape over the coming weeks. Add your name and you will be the first to know.

Keep me updated Or just say hello: hello@heataction.org