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The heat economy · Questions to ask

Questions to ask
before you buy, fund or start.

For city officers, employers, worker and community organisations, funders, investors and founders: twenty-four questions, the rules and ways of paying that have helped elsewhere, the common obstacles, and what each kind of organisation could do.

Watch: Four questions before you buy · 0:27 · narrated, captions in the picture

About this section. We gathered this from public websites and reports in October 2026. Being listed does not mean we recommend, partner with or rank anyone, and none of it is financial advice. Companies describe their own products; we have not tested them, so please check details with them directly. If something is missing or out of date, tell us.

Does it really protect people here?

  1. Who exactly will this protect, and from what kind of heat?Ask for the people, the place and the evidence. Selling a product is not the same as protecting someone.
  2. Will it work here, in our dry heat, humid heat and hot nights?Ask for tests in conditions like yours, with people inside the building.
  3. Will it make someone else hotter?Air conditioners and some roofs push heat into streets and neighbouring homes.
  4. Are the claims measured, estimated or marketing?Ask how a result was measured, and what it was compared with.
  5. Will it still work as heat, floods and water shortages grow?Ask how long it lasts and what it needs to keep working.

Is it fair?

  1. Can families on the lowest incomes use it without giving up food, school or medicine?Count the full cost: buying, running, repairs and travel. If they can’t, what is the free or subsidised option?
  2. Who is left out because they rent, or lack a meter, ID, bank account or phone?Make sure there is another way in for them.
  3. Can workers stop to rest without losing pay or their job?Equipment helps only if rest is paid and safe to take, including for contract workers.
  4. Could it push up rents or move residents and vendors out?Involve tenants and vendors early, and agree protections in writing.
  5. Does it add unpaid work, often for women?Pay for upkeep roles, and check opening hours, safety and toilets.
  6. Can older and disabled people reach it, use it and have a say?Check access, transport, communication and help on site, with them.
  7. Who sees people’s health, location or repayment data?Collect only what is needed, and keep a way to use the service without sharing data.

Who keeps it working?

  1. Who looks after it after the pilot, and with what budget?Name the owner, the repair plan and who pays each year.
  2. What happens when the power or phone network fails?Plan a backup for the hottest days, and keep essential services running first.
  3. What happens to electricity demand at the hottest hour?Start with shade and design, which need no power, before adding machines.
  4. Does it compete with drinking water?Check where the water comes from in a drought.
  5. Which cooling gas does it use, and who handles leaks and disposal?Use trained technicians and safe gases.
  6. Where do old fans, batteries and gases go?Agree safe collection and recycling from the start.
  7. Can the product, the installer and the claims be checked independently?Look for official tests or registration, a warranty, and a way to get faults fixed.
  8. Who can people complain to, and who decides to fix, change or stop it?Agree this before starting, and review it after each hot season.

Who pays, and who carries the risk?

  1. What happens after a missed payment or a bad season?Check the total cost, what happens to the equipment, and the options in hard times.
  2. Could people lose income and still get no payout, or get it too late?Ask how payouts are triggered, and what help exists if they don’t come.
  3. Who receives the subsidy, and what extra protection does it buy?Make sure the benefit reaches the people using it.
  4. If payment depends on results, could it reward the wrong thing?Pay for working services people can reach, not for units shipped or longer hours.

Rules that have helped create demand

Examples from Asia. A rule on paper helps most when it is checked and followed.

Ways customers can pay

Each can lower the cost of getting started. Check the total cost, and what happens in a bad month, before choosing one.

Common obstacles

What each kind of organisation could do

Suggestions to discuss, not commitments.

National governments

  • Set clear rules for products, buildings and heat at work, and check they are followed.
  • Fund public protection, and make clear which budgets can pay for heat work, including upkeep.

City and local governments

  • Bundle needs across homes, schools, markets and clinics into larger, costed purchases that suppliers can bid for.
  • Approve the upkeep budget, and protections for tenants and vendors, before installing anything.

Health authorities

  • Set out what a heat-ready clinic needs: cooling, staff, supplies and referral.
  • Track heat illness while protecting patient data, and check what actually helps.

Weather and climate services

  • Give local warnings people can act on, through radio, SMS and other offline channels too.
  • Help others tell apart a weather warning, a trigger to act at work and an insurance payout trigger.

Employers and businesses

  • Buy protection as a package: shade, water, cooling, safe schedules and paid rest.
  • Stay responsible for all workers, including contract workers, and pay for upkeep.

Worker organisations and unions

  • Shape protection with workers: rest, pay, benefit rules and how to complain.
  • Buy together or run shared funds, without taking on duties that belong to employers or government.

Utilities and energy regulators

  • Help households use efficient cooling, and keep power to clinics, water pumps and shelters first.
  • Make sure repayment through bills doesn’t leave anyone cut off or shut out.

Water authorities

  • Plan enough clean water for drinking, cooling, trees and public facilities.
  • Coordinate backup pumping and drought rules with health services and communities.

Farmers’ organisations and agriculture agencies

  • Design crop, livestock, farm-worker and cold-storage services with farmers.
  • Keep fees and finance fair, and protect water rights and tenant farmers.

Schools and education authorities

  • Buy together for safe classrooms, drinking water, shade and equipment that can be maintained.
  • Keep children learning and safe when schools change hours or close.

Banks, insurers and financial regulators

  • Keep loans, public help and insurance clearly separate, and protect borrowers.
  • Be open about payout triggers, timing, data use and what subsidies really cover.

Development banks, donors and climate funds

  • Fund preparation, local skills, evidence and public access, as well as projects that can repay.
  • Link support to fair delivery and a real upkeep plan, and be open about terms.

Community and civil society groups

  • Make sure tenants, women, migrants, older and disabled people help design services.
  • Run trusted outreach and feedback, and paid maintenance where the community chooses it.

International bodies

  • Share guidance, technical help and lessons across countries, adapted to each place.
  • Support open evidence and trained servicing, without assuming one standard fits everywhere.

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Questions to ask before you buy, fund or start.

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Twenty-four questions to ask about heat protection, with rules that help, ways to pay, common obstacles and what each organisation could do.

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