The world is currently experiencing unprecedented global temperatures and extreme weather events, with record heat waves and devastating storms. Last month, the world experienced the hottest days ever observed, with four days of record-breaking temperatures taking place in the span of just one week. Around the globe, climate-linked disasters are occurring more frequently, and scientists continue to publish research on the escalating risks of natural systems crossing major climate tipping points.

Project HEATWAVE, a new research initiative aimed at improving how we project and prepare for the risks associated with extreme heat, launched today as an international, collaborative effort led by top researchers from NYU Langone Health, Georgia Institute of Technology, and SilverLining, a non-profit climate research organization.

Far above us, in the stratosphere, the world’s ozone layer protects people and natural systems from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Much of the life on Earth has adapted to live under this protection. In the twentieth century, as society developed new technologies, especially refrigeration and cooling, we released chemicals that traveled to the stratosphere and depleted some of this stratospheric ozone, creating expanding “holes” through which protection did not occur. With the use of these chemicals growing rapidly, projected damage to the ozone layer posed an existential threat to humanity.