Extreme heat in Phnom Penh: plans, cycles and who is at work

A fast-growing capital of garment factories and metal roofs, where the hot season peaks before the rains. Heat plan: no published city heat plan found.

Heat type: Humid heat, hottest from March to May. Dry heat and humid heat, explained.

Heat action plan: No published city heat plan found

A proposal with the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and Phnom Penh Capital Hall would develop a heat action plan for the city, with thresholds and response protocols. No adopted city heat plan found yet.

Sources: National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development

Heat today

Live readings and the week’s forecast are on the interactive map. Official warnings: Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. How much climate change shaped today’s heat: Climate Shift Index map, Climate Central.

Vicious cycles the evidence ties to Phnom Penh

The cooling trap

UN ESCAP projects that the urban heat island could add 2 °C to 7 °C on top of global warming in Phnom Penh. Source: UN ESCAP, Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2025, reported by Asia News Network

Air conditioning heats the street, and a hotter city needs even more air conditioning. Follow it on the map.

The poverty–heat trap

At three garment factories, workers reporting heat symptoms rose from 68% in the cooler months to 88% in the hot months. Source: Chea et al., BMC Public Health, 2025

People who can’t afford to stop working fall ill. Illness costs income, and lost income makes stopping even less affordable. Follow it on the map.

The lost-schooling loop

In the April 2024 heatwave, Cambodia shortened public school days by two hours. Source: NBC News, 2024

Children pulled out of school earn less as adults, and poorer families pull more children out of school. Follow it on the map.

Who heat hits hardest here

• Workers in heat-exposed jobs
• People in informal settlements

Already at work here

• UN ESCAP: Helps fast-growing cities in South and Southeast Asia plan for extreme urban heat, working with Iloilo City and Cox’s Bazar.
• Asian Development Bank: Supports heat resilience in Asian cities, including technical assistance on heat stress among women and girls in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan. Its 2026 report on the heat crisis in Thailand and Southeast Asia calls for mobilising public and private finance, and proposes a heat action plan for Thailand.
• World Bank: Its 2026 report A Livable Future finds extreme heat already costs South Asia the equivalent of about 31 million full-time jobs a year, and sets out how cities can protect jobs and growth.

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