Press Release: The Smart Surfaces Coalition Supports Federal Policy Agenda for Tackling Extreme Heat 

January 13, 2025 - The Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a non-partisan, nonprofit science think tank dedicated to developing evidence-based policies to address national threats, today released the 2025 Heat Policy Agenda. This strategy provides specific, actionable policy ideas to tackle the growing threat of extreme heat in the United States – an issue that now affects all 50 states and costs the country more than $160 billion annually. The Heat Policy Agenda was co-signed by more than 60 labor, industry, health, housing, environmental, academic and community associations and organizations.

“Extreme heat is not just a weather event—it’s a public health crisis that disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities. Although climate change requires global governmental action, we have a solvable problem in the United States that can be conquered in just one generation—the urban heat island effect,” says Bill Updike, Program Manager of the Smart Surfaces Coalition. “Higher temperatures in urban areas directly resulted from poor policy and flawed surface infrastructure design. But, if all sectors of the U.S. government commit to new policies and historic investments in transforming our infrastructure into what we call Smart Surfaces—those that are green, cool, and permeable—we can collectively turn this trend around and mitigate extreme temperatures in cities. The Heat Policy Agenda provides the clear, actionable steps we need to integrate these solutions into federal policy, creating safer, more equitable environments for every American as we face an increasingly hotter world.”