Who can protect themselves from heat? Respond to heat inequality in the province of Barcelona

Every summer extreme heat causes deaths that could be avoided, and does not affect everyone equally. Whoever lives in a good home, with enough income to pay for the refrigeration, protects himself; whoever does not, is exposed. Heat mortality is, above all, a structural problem of inequality that increases temperatures amplify.

In the province of Barcelona live about 5.9 million people spread over 311 diverse municipalities. The report orders these inequalities from exposure to heat, household vulnerability and responsiveness, and identifies 39 priority municipalities, where intense heat, low income and a poor housing stock are concentrated at the same time.

The report proposes a framework of rights that guarantees thermal comfort beyond air conditioning. It proposes ten measures and a Provincial Climate Fund, financed with the surplus of renewable energy and the polluter pays principle, to redistribute resources to municipalities and households with less capacity to protect themselves.

• Date: 2026
• Authors: Rubén Martínez and Eva Vilaseca.
• Client: Barcelona Provincial Council.
• Keywords: heat wave, inequality, thermal comfort, energy precariousness, energy transition, province of Barcelona.