Policies & regulation for heat stress
Governments are developing policies and regulations to prepare for hot weather and protect people from extreme heat. These measures cover several areas: improving urban planning and design, making homes and buildings more heat-resilient, and addressing health and behaviour in the social domain to reduce risks. Early warning systems are also being strengthened to help communities prepare for and respond to high temperatures. Below is an overview of current policies and regulations.
First of all, as part of broader climate adaptation efforts to prepare for the impacts of hot weather, the Dutch Delta Programme aims to make urban areas in the Netherlands heat-resilient by 2050. To achieve this, the Delta Decision and the Delta Plan for Spatial Adaptation have been developed.
The Climate Adaptive Green Built Environment Benchmark, developed by several ministries, makes clear what climate-adaptive building and design consists of. It provides guidance for governments, housing associations and parties in the construction industry such as project developers. This benchmark aims for a heat resilient, healthy, and attractive building environment and presents five guidelines on/for:
- No direct heating of living areas in private or public outdoor areas by buildings (installations)
- Sufficient shade at residence areas, walking and cycling routes, and drinking water strips (locations of drinking water pipes)
- Distance to green and cool outdoor areas
- Heat-resistant surfaces
- Vital and vulnerable functions and green areas are resistant to heat.
Recently, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) developed the Menu Map Heat and the Guideline Integrated Action Plan to prepare for increasing heat waves. The Menu Map presents an overview of the steps that governments can take to become heat resilient.
The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) alerts for hot weather or heat wave conditions to indicate the impact of dangerous hot weather. For this, it uses international warning colours: code yellow, orange and red.
The National Heat wave Plan is a warning system to inform organisations, healthcare and other professionals and informal carers about the expected heat. They can take the heat into account when giving care and support to vulnerable groups. This way, discomfort and health problems caused by heat can be reduced and, where possible, prevented. When the National Heat wave Plan has been activated, the message for everyone is: take care of each other and pay extra attention to vulnerable groups like the elderly and young children.
Guidelines for overheating in new buildings have been established in the Dutch Bouwbesluit, which includes requirements for limiting indoor temperatures during hot weather. These rules apply mainly to new construction projects and are linked to calculations using the TOjuli indicator. For renovation and assessment of existing buildings, however, specific overheating guidelines are still lacking. It also remains unclear how to incorporate the urban heat island (UHI) effect and regional differences in heat exposure, such as the typically higher night-time temperatures in densely built cities and the lower heat risk in coastal areas.
