This summer, record temperatures across Europe and the United States have dominated headlines. Images of heat maps, school closures, and wildfires are now familiar.
Public officials advise staying indoors and using air conditioning.
However, extreme heat is becoming deadly unless you can afford to escape it. In the US and Europe, millions struggle with rising electricity bills.
In the global south, dangerous heat meets unreliable power, poor housing, and weak health systems.
Inequality within and among countries will decide the fate of millions. Solutions exist: help low-income families with cooling, invest in resilient infrastructure, and adopt clean technologies.
The question is political will.
Extreme heat kills about 2,000 people annually in the US. Europe's June heat dome claimed over 1,300 lives.
Low-income energy assistance is a core solution in the US, where most homes have electricity and cooling.
In the global south, the challenge is different.
During a visit to India, officials understood what needed to be done: expand electricity, improve housing, and increase access to cooling.
Their obstacle was lack of resources.
The Lancet estimates hundreds of thousands die from heat each year, with the burden growing fastest in south Asia and Africa.
The UN warns extreme heat widens inequality and slows development. Those most at risk contributed least to emissions.
The solution is not simply shipping air conditioners to developing countries. Many grids cannot support them.
Wealthy nations should help invest in cheaper, stable clean energy to build infrastructure for a warmer climate.
Low-income countries cannot do this alone. Development banks, climate funds, private investors, and wealthier nations must partner in financing climate adaptation.
This is an investment in global health and stability, not traditional aid.
Wealthy countries have not solved their own cooling challenges. Millions of American and European households struggle with rising bills.
US funding for energy assistance helps only one in six eligible families. But these countries have the economic capacity to address the shortfall.
Helping lower-income countries build reliable electricity is a strategic investment.
If the US and Europe fail to partner, other nations will fill the vacuum, expanding their influence across the developing world.
Climate policy has focused on reducing carbon emissions. That remains important.
But it must also be judged by whether wealthy nations help billions adapt to a hotter planet. In the US and Europe, affordable cooling is a political priority.
In the global south, it is a matter of resources and survival.
The next phase of climate debate must include helping people survive the climate already created.
Otherwise, the great divide will not be between high and low emitters, but between those with resources to adapt and those without.
