Climate change is making extreme heat events more common, more intense and longer lasting. Even if countries meet today’s climate pledges, the world is on course for much higher temperatures by the end of the century. Heat is not just an environmental concern, it is an all-of-society one.

The report explores how heat stress can become kidney stress, the scale and distribution of this emerging health burden and the people most at risk. It also assesses the policy responses needed to protect kidney health in a warming world. These include whole-of-government initiatives and action by health systems, public health authorities, employers, workers and researchers, which together can reduce the effects of heat on kidney health.