Climate Shift Index: Humid Heat is a tool developed by Climate Central that calculates the influence of climate change on daily humid heat conditions across the globe. The system is designed to help communicators, health professionals, and researchers connect human-caused climate change to everyday weather events and identify specific health risks driven by environmental shifts. By quantifying the climate signal in humid heat, it provides a scientific basis for understanding how a warming planet alters local conditions.

Organisation behind the tool

The tool is created and maintained by Climate Central, an independent group of scientists and communicators. Development of the resource and its associated communication involves collaboration with experts from the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and meteorologists from various media platforms.

What the tool does

The system provides a framework to track and analyse the influence of climate change on daily humid heat. Key features include identifying how human-caused climate change is driving health risks in communities and sharpening storytelling skills to connect climate change to daily weather patterns. Users can explore how humidity interacts with temperature to influence the overall heat index globally.

Target audience

The primary intended users are meteorologists, climate communicators, and journalists looking to incorporate climate science into their reporting. It is also designed for public health professionals and scientists focused on the intersection of climate change and extreme weather hazards.

Relevance to finance professionals

Finance professionals can apply insights from the Climate Shift Index: Humid Heat in several practice areas:

• Risk assessment – evaluating community exposure to heat-related hazards and the impact on local health and infrastructure.
• ESG analysis – utilising specific environmental metrics to assist in physical risk reporting and climate-related disclosure.
• Investment context – understanding long-term environmental trends and economic risks associated with climate-driven extreme weather.