--- title: The Cost of Extreme Heat Is Displacement description: We already know how to reduce the risks of extreme heat, write Kathy Baughman McLeod and Shana Tabak. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/04/the-cost-of-extreme-heat-is-displacement/ author: Kathy Baughman McLeod article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-04T10:00:03.733Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T10:00:03.909Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Cost of Extreme Heat Is Displacement og:description: We already know how to reduce the risks of extreme heat, write Kathy Baughman McLeod and Shana Tabak. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/04/the-cost-of-extreme-heat-is-displacement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3749bce1617904f8/6a70f941f0972a5ce4b996aa/extreme-heat.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: extreme-heat.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Cost of Extreme Heat Is Displacement twitter:description: We already know how to reduce the risks of extreme heat, write Kathy Baughman McLeod and Shana Tabak. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3749bce1617904f8/6a70f941f0972a5ce4b996aa/extreme-heat.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEASTime ideas # The Cost of Extreme Heat Is Displacement by [Kathy Baughman McLeod](https://time.com/author/kathy-baughman-mcleod/) and [Shana Tabak](https://time.com/author/shana-tabak/) Kathy Baughman McLeod is the CEO of HERA (Heat Resilience Action). Shana Tabak is senior fellow and director of the Climate Mobility Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Aug 4, 2026 10:00 AM UTC  zpagistock—Getty Images by [Kathy Baughman McLeod](https://time.com/author/kathy-baughman-mcleod/) and [Shana Tabak](https://time.com/author/shana-tabak/) Kathy Baughman McLeod is the CEO of HERA (Heat Resilience Action). Shana Tabak is senior fellow and director of the Climate Mobility Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Aug 4, 2026 10:00 AM UTC This summer, as [record-breaking heat](https://time.com/article/2026/06/23/heatwave-europe-record-high-temperatures-deadly-extreme-heat-stress-safety/) sweeps across [Europe](https://time.com/article/2026/06/23/heatwave-europe-record-high-temperatures-deadly-extreme-heat-stress-safety/) and the [United States](https://time.com/article/2026/06/29/what-are-the-three-hottest-years-on-record-and-how-will-this-summer-compare-/), millions of people are searching for a way to cool off. They crowd into public pools, and libraries turned into cooling centers. They run their air conditioners around the clock—if they have them. They flee to the mountains or the coast for relief, only to find that many of those traditional escapes are under heat [advisories](https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/66c881c9c73e4bcebf1bb6c463dc1ab9/2/75f57fff3c7924fb5a790e0a50d8ff55c0f746864013f8a7ac3b2645fdbb6ef8?cache%5Fbuster=1785164288). For many, the very real dangers of extreme heat (early analyses of [Europe’s June heatwave](https://time.com/article/2026/07/26/wildfire-disruptions-to-the-tour-de-france-show-how-climate-change-is-shaping-sports/) estimate a death toll of at least [20,000](https://zenodo.org/records/21083733)) will pass with the season. But for [millions](https://time.com/5953402/climate-migrants-kenya-floods/) of others, heat is not just something to survive for a few weeks. It has become a reason to leave home altogether. Scientists have identified a “[human climate niche](https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/66c881c9c73e4bcebf1bb6c463dc1ab9/4/7156bd5244be7f398aff7ab0f8e1a1b03b1eb934e6a2896984ea3506f0377da3?cache%5Fbuster=1785164288)”—the range of rainfall, humidity, and temperatures in which human societies have thrived for thousands of years. Climate change is rapidly shrinking that niche. By 2070, [up to one-third](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/climate/heat-temperatures-climate-change.html) of humanity could be living outside these conditions most suitable for human survival if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, according to a [study](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1910114117) published in _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_. Extreme heat is central to that shift. Scientists have long warned that sustained wet-bulb temperatures of [35°C (95°F](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43121-5)) or more—when heat and humidity combine to prevent the human body from cooling itself—are not survivable. [Several cities](https://time.com/7305946/cities-tackling-extreme-heat/) have already breached this threshold, and [emerging evidence](https://iee.psu.edu/news/blog/beyond-thermometer-new-science-extreme-heat-and-human-health) suggests the body’s breaking point may be even lower. Long before entire regions become physiologically uninhabitable, however, they become economically, socially, and practically impossible to live in. People rarely move because of heat alone. They move because heat makes it too [costly to stay](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/june-heatwave-uk-economy/). Whether someone can remain in place increasingly depends on whether they can afford to adapt. Extreme heat is not just a climate hazard, it is a force multiplier for [inequality](https://time.com/7210649/climate-housing-black-communities-essay/). Wealthier households can cool their homes, absorb higher utility bills, and relocate temporarily during heat waves. Wealthier cities can invest in solutions to keep cool. However, billions of people around the globe have no such options. For them, each hotter year brings a new set of compounding losses. [Crops fail](https://time.com/6175997/wheat-food-weather-climate/) after repeated heat waves. Livestock die. Construction workers, street vendors, and farmers lose income as dangerous temperatures shorten working hours or make outdoor labor impossible. Families [spend more](https://time.com/article/2026/06/11/how-climate-change-is-making-your-life-more-expensive/) on water, food, electricity, and healthcare while earning less than before. [Pregnant](https://time.com/article/2026/06/23/heatwave-europe-record-high-temperatures-deadly-extreme-heat-stress-safety/) women face higher risks of miscarriage and preterm birth. Children suffer heat-related illness and education losses as schools shut down. [Older adults](https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/europe-heat-wave-infrastructure-air-conditioning/) become increasingly vulnerable. And when scorching days are followed by nights that never cool, the body doesn’t have a chance to recover. Migration is rarely the result of a single heat wave. It is the culmination of years of mounting losses that steadily erode income, health, and hope. Consider Santuben Kantibhai, a farmer from Gujarat, India. Over the past two years, her family has endured a cascade of climate and economic shocks. A [severe heatwave](https://time.com/6965370/india-heat-temperature-election/) destroyed much of their standing crop, causing her family’s income to plummet. At the same time, her father—a co-earner who relied on farm labor and daily wage work—developed cataracts that gradually robbed him of his eyesight, making it increasingly difficult for him to help their family earn a living. When [another heatwave](https://time.com/7300435/india-urbanization-climate-impacts-heat-monsoons/) struck in 2025, crop yields fell again just as his condition required surgery. For Santuben, the question is not whether heat is becoming more dangerous; she already knows it is. It is how many more failed harvests and lost workdays can her family absorb before staying becomes impossible. The encouraging news is that we are far from powerless. We already know many of the solutions. Trees can [cool](https://time.com/article/2026/04/24/arbor-day-is-really-about-infrastructure/) neighborhoods by several degrees. Cool roofs, [shaded streets](https://time.com/6996432/trees-heat-waves-essay/), and [passive building](https://time.com/7305482/air-conditioning-passive-homes-sustainable-cooling/) design reduce dangerous temperatures. Early warning systems save lives. For Santuben, financial tools—in her case, [parametric insurance](https://heranow.org/resources/insurance-to-impact-a-guide-to-building-resilience-in-a-hotter-world/)—cushioned income losses during extreme heat and allowed her to cover her father’s medical expenses, which enabled him to return to work and recoup some of the income heat had wiped out. The value of that support extended beyond protecting her family’s income, it helped preserve their ability to decide whether to remain on their land rather than being forced to leave because they had exhausted every other option. The challenge is not a lack of solutions but a lack of resources. The communities [most exposed](https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-report-shows-disproportionate-impacts-climate-change-socially-vulnerable) to extreme heat are often those least able to finance adaptation, making increased domestic investment and [international climate finance](https://time.com/7307275/green-wall-street-london-sustainable-finance/) essential. None of these measures replace the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nor can they fully erase the pressures heat puts on families, but together they can often give people the choice to stay. To succeed, however, solutions must also reflect that heat does not affect everyone [equally](https://time.com/7305649/the-planet-cant-afford-billionaires/). Just as economic status can impact whether someone is forced from their homes, so too can [social factors](https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-report-shows-disproportionate-impacts-climate-change-socially-vulnerable), including gender, race, disability, and legal status, which often intersect to increase exposure to heat risks and reduce access to support systems. Women, for instance, already account for an estimated [80%](https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/07/climate-change-exacerbates-violence-against-women-and-girls) of people displaced by climate change and are significantly more likely to die during climate-related hazards. Women and girls often bear a disproportionate burden because they are [more likely](https://time.com/6249410/secret-tax-women-time/) to shoulder unpaid caregiving, water collection, and cooking—responsibilities that continue even during dangerous heat. Cultural expectations around clothing and freedom of movement within a community can further increase their exposure. Adaptation strategies that ignore these realities risk leaving the most vulnerable behind. Even when people [leave home](https://time.com/6314312/libya-flooding-unnatural-disaster-derna-photos/) to escape the impacts of extreme heat, they may remain dangerously exposed. Many migrants face lethal temperatures on the journey itself, whether moving within a country from [rural to urban](https://time.com/5953402/climate-migrants-kenya-floods/) areas where livelihoods are not as dependent on temperature, or crossing the Sonoran Desert or other increasingly hostile routes across borders. Others arrive only to find themselves working in some of the hottest and most dangerous occupations. In 2021, Sebastian Perez, an undocumented farmworker from Guatemala, [died](https://apnews.com/article/canada-lifestyle-heat-waves-coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-ec7c31c85db5ef51e56e9d2fed33e719) after working outdoors during Oregon’s record-breaking heat wave when temperatures soared to 107°F and the asphalt softened beneath workers' feet. Heat followed him across borders. Migration has always been part of the human story. But people should not be forced to abandon their homes, livelihoods, cultures, and communities because heat has become impossible to endure. The World Bank estimates that, under a high-emissions scenario, as many as [216 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/climate/isle-jean-charles-relocation.html) people could be internally displaced by climate impacts in the next quarter century. But it also finds that ambitious adaptation and emissions reductions could cut that number by as much as [80%](https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2021/09/13/taking-action-on-internal-climate-migration). When people leave because climate impacts force them out, migration is not adaptation. It is evidence that adaptation came too late. We already know how to reduce the risks of extreme heat. We know how to build cooler cities, protect workers, strengthen livelihoods, and cut the fossil fuel consumption driving temperatures ever higher. What has been missing is not knowledge, but political will. If we fail to act, the question will no longer be where we go to escape the heat. It will be whether any place remains beyond its reach. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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