In late June, a heat dome that enveloped half the country caused numerous issues for the nation’s capital: sending people to emergency rooms with heat illness, slowing trains due to potential track warping, closing the Washington Monument to tours and much more. Meanwhile, inside the offices of Duke in DC, dozens of leaders from diverse sectors spent three days deliberating how to protect both people and economic interests when temperatures soar near—or over—triple digits.
Held June 24–26, HeatWise DC gathered this eclectic group for roundtable discussions designed to translate research and insights into actionable policies and strategies on extreme heat. The week included a reception for attendees and invited guests to network and to commemorate the launch of the bipartisan Congressional Extreme Heat Caucus.
The invitation-only summit was led by Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub as part of the HeatWise Policy Partnership, a brain trust committed to accelerating extreme heat solutions in the United States.
“HeatWise is intended to bring people to the table who don't normally talk to each other,” said Ashley Ward, director of the hub, which is based at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. “We hosted it this year in D.C. so we could bring federal representation into conversations with people from communities, civil society, academia, the private sector and philanthropy.”
2025 Summit Report
HeatWise DC Perspectives
Each day of HeatWise DC focused on a specific theme:
- Rural heat vulnerability
- National defense and security
- Financing for heat mitigation and insurance
Echoing the inaugural HeatWise Policy Partnership Summit in Durham last year, the schedule left plenty of time between sessions for participants to talk informally, fostering cross-sector connections that will last well beyond the event.
The first day’s discussions focused on how to help rural communities cope with extreme heat—also a key topic at last year’s summit.
“Rural communities’ challenges that are consistent—whatever the issue—is the amount of distance between the people who live there and the services that they use,” said Rev. Susannah Tuttle, director of the North Carolina Council of Churches Eco-Justice Connection.
Solutions that work in urban areas aren’t always effective in rural settings. As participants discussed how to protect rural populations from heat’s dangers, they emphasized investing in existing infrastructure and trusted organizations already operating in communities. Another suggestion involved “bundling geographies” by pooling smaller communities together to create better opportunities and to reduce risks for public and private investment.
Another day focused on the challenges the private sector faces from extreme heat, which is increasingly projected to drive business losses. If laborers are unable to work due to unsafe temperatures, companies can take significant hits. Meanwhile, heat can also affect companies’ equipment, infrastructure, supply chains, energy costs and (for industries like tourism) consumer demand.
Participants emphasized that public-private partnerships are crucial to finding solutions that benefit both communities and companies. Some pointed out that embedding heat into risk assessments may spur companies to innovate around the issue.
The summit’s third theme—national defense and security—marked new territory for the HeatWise Policy Partnership.
The U.S. military has long grappled with challenges posed by heat. For example, during training, how do you protect the health of service members who may be unaccustomed to higher temperatures without comprising performance standards? Over the years, the military has developed effective approaches such as the arm immersion technique pioneered by Lt. Col. David DeGroot, director of the Army Heat Center based at Fort Benning in Georgia. DeGroot said many—if not all—of the lessons that he’s learned about heat while working for the Army apply to civilian life.
“We all have unique challenges, whether we're agricultural workers or in the military or construction or whatever other demographic,” he said. “But the basics of heat illness prevention is very, very similar across those, and so is the recognition and response.”
Common lessons and takeaways emerged over the three days of discussion.
Participants noted the need to better communicate success stories that can serve as models for communities looking to implement extreme heat solutions. With the federal government seemingly shifting away from disaster mitigation, conversations turned toward how to help empower states and communities to develop innovative policies.Attendees also repeatedly zeroed in on better quantifying extreme heat’s economic impacts.
“The impact of heat on health outcomes is a critical topic in these discussions—but our deliberations are not just about lives, but also livelihoods,” Ward said. “We need to provide the evidence base for policymakers to know exactly how heat is affecting the economic and social well-being of their communities so they can determine what sort of policy interventions might be the most effective.”
Ward is leading a new Duke initiative to build that evidence base. Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bridging Divides project is quantifying sector-specific heat impacts across health, energy, agriculture, labor, transportation and housing. The data will be broken down by congressional district, providing clear, actionable insights to inform heat resilience efforts.
Next Steps
The Heat Policy Innovation Hub will produce a report summarizing the HeatWise conversations in Washington—just as it did last year. The key findings will support ongoing outreach to policymakers to help inform heat solutions. (Now available →)
The formation of the Extreme Heat Caucus—co-chaired by Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.)—indicates there’s a receptive audience on both sides of the aisle.
"Congress can’t control the weather, but there’s much we still can do to build resilient communities and better protect public health,” Stanton said on behalf of the caucus at the HeatWise DC reception. “As Congress considers policy solutions, this conversation that you've had today—and will in future days—makes a big difference.”
Sponsors of HeatWise DC
HeatWise DC was made possible by support from these organizations, which are investing in policy leadership to protect communities across the United States in the face of extreme heat.
