July 2023 was the hottest month globally since records began. Combine that with several months filled with a series of extreme weather events - from heatwaves in Europe, North America and Asia, to wildfires in Canada and Greece - and it’s undeniable that the impacts of climate change that experts have long been warning us about are here today. And the worse news is that it’s only going to get hotter. Featured guests: Eugenia Kargbo is Freetown, Sierra Leone’s Chief Heat Officer. Her role is the first of its kind in Africa, and her duties include raising public awareness about extreme heat, improving responses to heat waves, and collecting heat impact data for her city of 1.2 million people. Her team’s Freetown the Treetown project was a 2023 nominee for the Protect and Restore Nature Earthshot Award. Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis served as the Mayor of Athens from 2019 to the end of 2023. He has worked at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has held positions in the European Parliament in Brussels and the World Bank in Kosovo. He is also the vice president of the Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government, and a Greek Leadership Council member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Links: Hot Cities, Chilled Economies: Freetown, Sierra Leone Freetown’s highly replicable way of self-financing urban reforestation - C40 Knowledge Hub Freetown the Treetown - Earthshot Eleni Myrivili: A three-part plan to take on extreme heat waves - C40 Knowledge Hub Heatwave tips from Athens: Cool routes app, new pocket parks and renovating a Roman aqueduct - Euronews Image credit: © Erin Dwi Azmi C40 If you want to learn more about the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, please visit our website: https://jccpe.utpjournals.press/ Cities 1.5 is a podcast by University of Toronto Press and is produced in association with the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy. Our executive producers are Isabel Sitcov, Peggy Whitfield, Jessica Abraham, Claudia Rupnik, and Dali Carmichael. Produced by Jess Schmidt: https://jessdoespodcasting.com/ Music is by Lorna Gilfedder: https://origamipodcastservices.com/