Five major African cities have joined a new international coalition committing to urgent action against escalating urban heat. Announced at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro,(3-5 November) the Cool Cities Accelerator brings together governments confronting a threat reshaping daily life in many of the world’s fastest-growing urban centers.
As temperatures continue rising, cities like Accra, Durban, Tshwane, Freetown and Nairobi are aligning behind a coordinated framework designed to protect residents, safeguard livelihoods and redesign city environments for a dangerously warmer future.
Extreme heat has become the deadliest weather-related hazard worldwide. The World Health Organization attributes nearly half a million deaths each year to heat exposure, and climate researchers warn that the number of people in cities facing life-threatening conditions could increase fivefold by 2050 without transformative interventions.
For African cities, the risk is already acute, as rising temperatures collide with limited green infrastructure, growing informal settlements and strained public health systems. Many communities lack reliable access to water and electricity for cooling, making adaptation an urgent necessity rather than a distant planning issue.
The Cool Cities Accelerator, established by C40 Cities with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and additional global partners, aims to provide both immediate relief and long-term climate security. City leaders have pledged swift measures to expand emergency cooling access, strengthen early warning systems and ensure vulnerable neighborhoods are protected during heatwaves. ‘
In parallel, they are committing to structural improvements within five years, including climate-responsive buildings, expanded shade, reflective surfaces and urban forests that reduce heat retention in streets where people live and work.
Data driving the coalition is stark. According to C40 analysis, the number of days when temperatures exceed 35°C in major capitals has increased by 54% in the past two decades.
In coastal cities such as Durban (South Africa), humidity is pushing the heat index beyond safe limits more frequently and for longer stretches of the year. In Accra and Freetown, where dense populations rely heavily on outdoor labor, heat waves are already cutting productivity hours and driving up cases of dehydration and heat stress in urban hospitals. Even cities historically buffered by altitude, including Nairobi and Tshwane, are experiencing an upward trend in heat-related emergencies as expansion intensifies exposure.
For households dependent on income from outdoor work, street vending, construction, transport, the implications are immediate and economic. When heat curtails a day’s labor, earnings disappear. For energy systems, surges in cooling demand strain power reliability in countries where supply gaps already affect industry and domestic use. Urban heat also disrupts water access and worsens air quality, magnifying health inequalities in communities that are least prepared to cope.
International partners are now placing climate resilience at the center of their support. Through an investment of close to USD 1 million, The Rockefeller Foundation is backing African cities to set adaptation targets based on climate and public-health data, while piloting community-level cooling interventions that can be rapidly scaled.
These efforts align with measures already emerging across the continent: Accra restoring tree cover in high-risk districts, Freetown mapping shade needs across new settlements, Durban embedding heat resilience within long-term infrastructure planning. The Accelerator aims to turn these scattered innovations into shared strategies, ensuring that solutions proven effective in one city accelerate progress in others.
African cities are being forced to confront the reality that urban resilience is no longer solely about flood defences or green transport. As climate shocks multiply, heat is becoming a defining test of whether cities can remain liveable for the majority of residents. Cooling centres, heat-resistant materials, shaded mobility routes and access to clean water are fast turning into essential urban services, not optional improvements.
The coalition’s launch underscores a crucial shift: African cities are not only enduring the impacts of the climate crisis, they are shaping the global response to its fastest-growing urban hazard. Their ability to anticipate and blunt the rising tide of heat will determine not just public health outcomes, but economic stability and social cohesion in a century defined by climate extremes.
Read also: WHO calls for integrated urban planning as African cities face rising health and climate pressures
What emerges from the Cool Cities Accelerator in the years ahead will be measured in the experience of ordinary people, parents walking children to school, traders working markets at midday, commuters waiting for transport under the sun, patients relying on clinics that must stay cool enough to function. African cities are building protection one street and one rooftop at a time, knowing the cost of inaction grows with each hotter season.
Cooling cities is now a defining challenge of Africa’s urban future. The choices leaders make today will shape whether millions can continue to work, learn and thrive in the places they call home as temperatures rise.
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