Heat is Australia’s deadliest natural hazard, and impacts 100% of the population of Greater Sydney every summer.Heat impacts are particularly pronounced in Western Sydney, due to a combination of climate change, local geography, and rapid urbanisation – where greening makes way for new housing developments.Heat causes major liveability and resilience problems with critical impacts for human health, infrastructure, emergency services and the natural environment.

The impacts of heat are already being felt across Western Sydney. We urgently need to respond with strategies that minimise the impacts of intense shocks such as heatwaves and the ongoing stress of frequent hot and very hot weather. It is critical that we improve our region’s resilience to urban and extreme heat. A resilience approach involves not only reducing urban heat, but also helping people adapt, and being prepared to respond in extreme events.

The Turn Down the Heat Strategy has been prepared in collaboration with stakeholders from a diverse range of sectors including health, infrastructure, academia, planning, utilities and non-profit. Combining the expert knowledge, skills and resources of these stakeholders is essential to comprehensively address urban heat. As a collective we will need to continue to build collaboration between sector experts to ensure the goals of the strategy are achieved.