COMMON SHADE: home, the map of extreme heat
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Fund and build

Paying when heat strikes

Most money set aside for disasters was designed for floods, storms and earthquakes, which break things that can be counted. Heat mostly takes income, health and working days, quietly. This section gathers what exists to pay when heat arrives, and asks, gently, one question.

Which layer could carry heat?

  • 98schemes and arrangements we documented
  • 54name heat in their cover
  • 18with a payment we could trace, amount and date

Counts are of what we documented, not of everything that exists. Money is never added up across kinds.

The protection-gap loop

A small business owner seeking insurance

After several bad years, insurers no longer cover heat losses for businesses like hers. When a heatwave hits, she turns to public relief, which strains the budget meant for protection.

The reactive-spending loop

A municipal budget officer

With money stretched, the cooling shelters and water points she planned are cut back. When the heatwave arrives, emergency spending takes even more of the budget, and prevention is cut again.

A composite, drawn from the evidence for this cycle. Not a real person. Money arranged before heat arrives is one way these two cycles could be eased.

Layers of shade

The layers of protection

Money for a bad season can be held in layers, like canopies one above another. The ones closest to people carry the heat of most years; the higher ones open only for rarer, harder years. Each strip below is one scheme we documented: filled where heat is in its cover, open where it is not. Where the shade has holes, heat reaches people as lost pay and illness.

Five layers of protection above peopleA drawing of five layered canopies. Choose how hard a heat season is to see which layers open, and select a layer to read about it.
How hard a heat season?

A picture of how layered protection is meant to work, drawn from the schemes we documented. It is not a measurement of the protection gap, which we could not put a reliable number on.

Every scheme, one honest question

Did it pay, and when?

Open any scheme to see its trigger, the money in its own kind, how fast it moved, where the trigger and the harm could part ways, and who it reaches. Never triggered is a finding, not a failure.

Layer
Did it pay?
Where

98 schemes

Kept apart, on purpose

Three triggers, and two clocks

A warning, a decision to act and a contract that pays are different things, set by different people for different reasons. After a payout trigger, two more clocks run: until money reaches an institution, and until it reaches a person. A fast payment to a treasury can still be a slow one for a family.

  1. 1

    A warning

    A weather service says dangerous heat is coming. It tells people to take care, and starts nothing on its own.

    In Dhaka, readiness begins on a forecast 5–7 days ahead. Source archived copy

  2. 2

    An action trigger

    A threshold agreed in advance gives permission, and money, to act: cash, water, cooling, outreach.

    Dhaka’s Early Action Protocol: Temperature at least 38°C and heat index at least 38 for at least two consecutive days. First activated in April 2024. Source archived copy

  3. 3

    A payout trigger

    A contract pays when a measured index crosses its line, whether or not a person was harmed.

    A worker cover in Noida, India: Noida: 42°C for five consecutive days; additional ten-day tier reported. Source

  4. 4

    Money reaches an institution

    A ministry, agency or organisation receives the funds. This clock is the one most often reported.

    A regional pool paid Lao PDR US$2 million 6 business days after receipt of latest government impact data, for floods rather than heat. Source archived copy

  5. 5

    Money reaches a person

    The clock that matters most to someone losing a day’s pay, and the one we could least often see.

    In Dhaka in 2024, households received BDT 5,000 each; the dates they received it are not in our sources. Source archived copy

Ways to measure heat for a trigger

No single measure sees all of heat. Each one catches some harm and can miss another.

  • Air temperatureHumid heat: Poorly captured when used alone.

    What it does well Simple, observable and supported by long weather histories.

    What it can miss Misses humidity, radiation, wind, indoor heat and workload; station/grid may differ from exposure.

    Data in Asia IMD daily temperature grids and national station services; local usable hourly coverage would ideally be audited.

    Used in bd-dhaka-eap

  • WBGT - measuredHumid heat: Captures humid heat and radiant conditions; not a universal personal safety threshold.

    What it does well Local natural wet-bulb, globe and dry-bulb sensors integrate humidity, wind and radiation.

    What it can miss Sensor siting, calibration, maintenance and averaging matter; workload/clothing/individual response remain outside index.

    Data in Asia Singapore publishes instrument-based WBGT and an API; comparable public coverage across all South/SE Asian locations not verified.

  • WBGT - modelledHumid heat: Potentially captures humid/radiant heat if full method/inputs support it.

    What it does well Enables spatial/historical estimates without a globe sensor at every location.

    What it can miss Dependent on meteorological inputs, radiation/wind assumptions and validation; a simple temperature–humidity proxy is not direct measurement.

    Data in Asia Reanalysis/forecast inputs available regionally; Asian worksite validation of any selected model would ideally be checked.

  • Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)Humid heat: Includes humidity but does not remove exposure and vulnerability mismatch.

    What it does well Combines temperature, humidity, wind and radiation in a physiological reference model.

    What it can miss Reference person/activity/clothing assumptions; grid and outdoor setting do not reproduce every person or indoor workplace.

    Data in Asia ERA5-HEAT provides hourly 0.25° gridded estimates across South/SE Asia; modelled exposure, not a dense instrument network.

  • Satellite land-surface temperature (LST)Humid heat: Poor direct capture of humidity; LST alone does not measure humid heat.

    What it does well Spatially detailed view of surface heating and urban land-cover patterns.

    What it can miss Skin temperature differs from shaded air or human heat stress; clouds, overpass time, emissivity and missingness matter.

    Data in Asia MODIS daily 1 km day/night products cover region subject to quality/clear-sky availability; HotPay explores LST-enabled indicators.

  • Duration and night-time indicatorsHumid heat: Persistence does not itself include humidity unless combined with a humid-heat metric.

    What it does well Captures persistence and reduced recovery opportunities.

    What it can miss Choice of window and baseline changes eligibility; day/night and time-zone definitions would ideally be fixed.

    Data in Asia Daily/hourly weather histories and ERA5-HEAT night statistics available; local indoor recovery exposure still unknown.

    Used in in-sewa-2024; bd-dhaka-eap

  • Excess mortality / heat-attributable mortalityHumid heat: Can model humidity jointly, but mortality is not a direct humidity metric.

    What it does well Reveals harm beyond certified heatstroke; supports burden and fiscal-needs estimates.

    What it can miss Lagged/incomplete registration, baseline and attribution uncertainty; post-event outcome cannot by itself fund pre-impact action.

    Data in Asia India facility surveillance and city all-cause studies exist; timely complete national daily death data are not assumed.

  • Forecast probabilityHumid heat: Depends on forecast variable; temperature-only probability misses humidity.

    What it does well Can release funds before harm; expresses forecast uncertainty.

    What it can miss Requires local calibration, reliability and decision-cost testing; a probability of above-normal seasonal heat is not a probability of the contracted event.

    Data in Asia ECMWF/GFS inputs used by Dhaka; NOAA GEFS publishes heat-exceedance probabilities. No financial probability threshold inferred.

How long the data takes

  • National stations and WIGOS quality monitoringOperational, subject to reporting and transmissionNo uniform adequate station density assumed.
  • IMD gridded daily maximum temperatureHistorical archive; not demonstrated as the real-time payout feedDocumentation says post-2008 grids use around 180 operationally received stations. This is a product-input count, not the total current Indian network.
  • ERA5 / ERA5TERA5T about five days; consolidated ERA5 about two–three monthsReanalysis is observation–model synthesis, not satellite LST or a local station reading. Settlement would ideally define preliminary/final version.
  • ERA5-HEATIntermediate daily updates; final monthly updates with two–three month lagSpatially complete grid does not establish complete worksite exposure measurement.
  • MODIS MOD11A1 v6.1 and proposed EO trigger servicesProduct-specific; distinguish archive, near-real-time and compositesDo not substitute LST degrees for air, WBGT or heat-index degrees.
  • Singapore WBGT instruments and APIAutomatic publication; gaps and subsequent corrections possibleOctober 2026 ministry reply says around 30 stations, expanded from 15 in 2025; count is time-specific.
  • Operational forecast and ensemble productsForecast release schedule; distinguish forecast lead from payment-processing timeGeneral product availability is not proof of local reliability at contracted threshold.
  • Health-facility surveillance and civil-registration mortalitySuspected reports early; confirmation and death registration laterFacility deaths miss deaths outside facilities; all-cause excess is not automatically attributable to heat.

Why heat is different

Seven things that make heat hard to finance

  1. 1

    Health and income harm without damaged assets

    What has been tried. SEWA income-oriented parametric cover; separate public/social benefits and heatstroke clinical benefits address other losses.

    Still open. These mechanisms cover different needs. A clinical-event payment is not wages and a fixed benefit is not full expense indemnity.

  2. 2

    Uncounted or unattributed deaths

    What has been tried. Reviewed operational heat examples use weather or forecasts rather than requiring a counted heat death.

    Still open. This bypasses death-certification delay but does not make payouts track mortality. Mortality surveillance and excess-mortality analysis remain relevant for calibration; no operational excess-mortality heat payout trigger verified.

  3. 3

    Accumulation across consecutive days and nights

    What has been tried. Multi-day triggers are used in SEWA and AXA designs; historical Pakistan DRF learning considered maximum and minimum temperatures.

    Still open. Long consecutive-day requirements may miss intermittent severe exposure; hot-night-specific payment wording not verified for current examples.

  4. 4

    Humidity and occupational exposure

    What has been tried. Start Network's Pakistan design describes a GFS-based heat-index model; Bangladesh activation references heat index alongside temperature.

    Still open. Heat index is not WBGT. Neither automatically captures workload, radiant heat, clothing or indoor conditions. Exact current algorithms require review.

  5. 5

    Sparse stations and coarse exposure data

    What has been tried. SEWA's first pilot used NASA POWER; provider examples also use official weather observations.

    Still open. Gridded/reanalysis data are not local ground measurement or satellite land-surface temperature. Independent local validation, missing-data rules and a backup feed are proposed safeguards, not verified scheme features.

  6. 6

    Warning, action and payout are separate

    What has been tried. Humanitarian EAPs pre-agree actions and finance; lower-threshold assistance can sit beside insurance.

    Still open. Record forecast issue, trigger confirmation, release approval, institutional receipt and final receipt separately; an action lead time is not cash-in-hand speed.

  7. 7

    Forecast false alarms and missed harm

    What has been tried. Start Network reports a historical Karachi activation where the predicted threshold event did not materialise; preventative activities continued.

    Still open. False positives have costs; misses can leave harm unfunded. No universal acceptable error rate or independently measured basis-risk rate is established.

Beyond wages

Clinics, grids, water and care

Much of what this research found pays people for lost income, or pays governments after a declared event. Heat also lands on things no payout reaches directly: a clinic that loses its cooling, a pump that stops in a power cut, an older woman alone in a room that will not cool. In what we reviewed, we found little risk finance designed for those. Inferred: that protection mostly sits in public budgets, utility planning, building rules and health services, the lower layers of the canopy above.

Place by place

Country by country

The layers we found in each place, what we could not find, and ideas the researchers inferred. A gap describes what our search found, never a fault, and an idea is a possibility, not a recommendation.

India

  1. Budgets and reserves
    India State Disaster Response Funds, 2026–31 Heat in its cover

    Held by State governments / State Executive Committees

    How it is released Approved heat relief norms and state administrative authorisation. Detailed 2026 response items/limits not verified.

    How it reaches people State/district relief and public-service channels; no nationwide heat-specific receipt audit found.

    What we could not find Response-labelled MHA catalogue PDF returned mitigation text in this review. Heat inclusion is confirmed by official answer; exact updated response entitlements/limits are withheld.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Budgets and reserves
    India National Disaster Response Fund, 2026–31 Heat in its cover

    Held by Union government / Ministry of Home Affairs

    How it is released State request and central assistance process for severe disaster, subject to updated norms; complete 2026 procedure not verified

    How it reaches people Union-to-state assistance followed by state/district spending; no heat-specific national payout-to-person series verified.

    What we could not find Do not infer automatic NDRF release from an IMD warning or from heat being legally notified.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  3. Budgets and reserves
    India State Disaster Mitigation Funds, 2026–31 Heat in its cover

    Held by State Disaster Management Authorities / state governments

    How it is released Approved new mitigation project. Annual single-hazard share normally capped at50%, relaxable by MHA on specified recommendation/concurrence; non-structural measures up to10% annual allocation.

    How it reaches people Approved state/district/community projects; ongoing maintenance would ideally be funded elsewhere.

    What we could not find Restrictions include no routine upkeep/establishment spending, no beautification or funding existing ongoing schemes; specific project cost eligibility would ideally be checked.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

  4. Budgets and reserves
    India National Disaster Mitigation Fund, 2026–31 Heat in its cover

    Held by Union government / national mitigation approval machinery

    How it is released Approved eligible mitigation proposal and national approval process; national fund-specific detailed limits not fully verified

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Do not apply the SDMF 50%/10% rules to NDMF without checking the NDMF-specific text. No national heat disbursement total verified.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  5. Budgets and reserves
    Kerala SDMF heat mitigation and district heat-action funding Heat in its cover

    Held by Government of Kerala / KSDMA / DDMAs

    How it is released Administrative heat-action/mitigation authorisation; no parametric trigger

    How it reaches people Agriculture projects and district/local-body heat responses. KSDMA describes local-body access, not a measured beneficiary transfer.

    What we could not find 2026 allocation wording does not unambiguously say per district versus statewide; no multiplying by district count. No evidence of completed farmer-level spending/timing in this source.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  6. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Kerala proposed sovereign/BPL group parametric–indemnity scheme Heat cover unclear

    Held by Government of Kerala / State Insurance Department

    How it is released Thresholds, validation, beneficiary verification, payment mechanisms, SOPs and audit to be developed

    How it reaches people Proposed government receipt for parametric layer, verified homeowner payment for BPL indemnity; not an operating entitlement.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  7. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Nagaland state rainfall-parametric insurance lineage Heat not covered

    Held by Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority

    How it is released Full issued schedule not verified

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Later reporting mentions another insurer/version; not merged with Tata AIG lineage. No heat or exact payment history imported.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  8. Insurance, pools and bonds
    SEWA heat-insurance and separate cash support, 2024 policy cohort Heat in its cover

    Held by SEWA

    How it is released 41.6–46.1°C depending on district, for two consecutive days

    How it reaches people Member bank accounts; documentation exceptions can affect timing.

    What we could not find Full contract/protocol execution, recipient timing, inclusion and causal outcomes require further evidence.

    An idea, inferred Publish auditable trigger computation, data version, release and recipient timestamps, accessible complaints and independent outcome analysis.

The rules, in brief · IRDAI

Index-based (parametric) cover Actual heat products documented separately; no general permission inferred for a new issuer.

Small-sum insurance 2024 product regulations repeal 2015 Micro Insurance Regulations; implementing circulars would ideally be checked.

Selling through worker groups and phones SEWA operation observed; current authority for a new worker/mobile distributor not verified.

Protection for buyers Product governance and clear design requirements; heat-specific disclosure, complaint and data procedures require policy review.

The India country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Philippines

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund Heat partly covered

    Held by National government / DBM and implementing agencies

    How it is released Agency/LGU request, evaluation/recommendation and approval processes as applicable; cash allotment and accounting rules

    How it reaches people DBM allotment/cash authorisation to implementing agencies/LGUs, then service/relief programmes. Budget release is not household receipt.

    What we could not find Do not add the separate PSF row to this subtotal: PSF is included. Proposed 2026 budget figures differ from enacted status report; no heat-only release amount verified.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Budgets and reserves
    Philippines agency Quick Response Funds Heat partly covered

    Held by Designated government agencies

    How it is released Agency-authorised eligible QRF spending; DBM says initial use does not require NDRRMC recommendation or Presidential approval. Replenishment follows separate approval.

    How it reaches people Agency response services and benefits; public guidance does not establish coverage of every heat-exposed household.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  3. Budgets and reserves
    Philippines People's Survival Fund Heat partly covered

    Held by PSF Board / Treasury with LGUs and accredited community organisations

    How it is released Project proposal/work-financial plan, risk/planning documents and approval; no heat warning payout

    How it reaches people Approved LGU/community adaptation projects; no individual right to claim from PSF.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

  4. Budgets and reserves
    Philippines Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds Heat partly covered

    Held by LGUs / local DRRM councils and finance offices

    How it is released Local plan/appropriation and lawful spending; local calamity declaration based on LDRRMC recommendation/assessment where relevant. Do not apply declaration requirement to every prevention activity.

    How it reaches people City/municipal/barangay services and approved assistance; appropriation alone does not establish receipt or inclusion.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  5. Budgets and reserves
    Quezon City heat action plan and pilot-interventions procurement, 2026 Heat in its cover

    Held by Quezon City Government

    How it is released Public procurement award, notice to proceed and contract payment conditions; not a weather or insurance trigger

    How it reaches people Supplier delivers plan-development and pilot-intervention services. No household cash benefit or completed results inferred.

    What we could not find Procurement code includes LDRRMF(CLIMATE), while tender describes General Fund. Detailed fund-account attribution not independently reconciled; do not infer the whole contract is QRF.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

  6. Contingent finance
    Philippines World Bank Cat DDO4,2021–23 Heat partly covered

    Held by Republic of the Philippines / Bureau of the Treasury

    How it is released Qualifying State of Calamity or Public Health Emergency

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Do not add a drawdown announcement to a later cumulative disbursement. No definitive tranche schedule imported.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  7. Contingent finance
    ADB Philippines Second Disaster Resilience Improvement Program, 2025 Heat partly covered

    Held by Republic of the Philippines

    How it is released Negotiated conditions; full loan agreement not reviewed

    How it reaches people Local/national DRRM and PFM reforms include gender, disability and social inclusion objectives; objectives are not evidence of fair delivery.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  8. Contingent finance
    ADB first Philippines Disaster Resilience Improvement Program: historical drawdowns Heat partly covered

    Held by Republic of the Philippines

    How it is released Enhanced community quarantine under IATF Resolution106-A was an eligible condition

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

  9. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Philippine City Disaster Insurance Pool design / development Heat not covered

    Held by Participating city governments; DOF-led pool design

    How it is released Design/contract-specific; no issued heat threshold

    How it reaches people Intended direct city liquidity for early recovery; actual cities paid and beneficiary timing not verified.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  10. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Philippines sovereign/provincial parametric pilot, 2017–19 Heat not covered

    Held by Bureau of the Treasury; government agencies and 25 provinces intended users

    How it is released Contract attachment/exhaustion, peril-specific; no heat component

    How it reaches people World Bank/Kimetrica implementation review found all three receipts remained at Treasury at review cutoff, owing to unresolved allocation authorisations. Other public assistance may have funded affected areas.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  11. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Philippines World Bank catastrophe bond, 2019–22 Heat not covered

    Held by Republic of Philippines; World Bank issuer

    How it is released Partial trigger met afterRai; full signed trigger schedule not retrieved

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Announcement describes payout and remaining coverage; no bank-credit or end-recipient trace verified. No additional heat component inferred.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

The rules, in brief · Insurance Commission

Index-based (parametric) cover Heat-specific permission not verified by the reviewed distribution circular.

Small-sum insurance 2016 framework supplements enhanced microinsurance framework; background pending amendment check.

Selling through worker groups and phones Licensed microinsurance entities can contract innovative channels, subject to permitted functions and conduct.

Protection for buyers Framework assigns distribution responsibilities and consumer protections; not proof every worker organisation may sell.

Source archived copy

The Philippines country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Bangladesh

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Bangladesh national and district Disaster Management Funds Heat in its cover

    Held by Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief / district committees

    How it is released Authorised disaster-management expenditure under financial rules and 2021 fund rules; detailed heat criteria not verified

    How it reaches people National relief division and district administration; fund accounts and relief channels established by law; actual heat disbursement and inclusion outcomes not verified.

    What we could not find 2012 law is background; full 2021 rules and current delegation/spending norms require review before operational eligibility advice.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Anticipatory action
    bd_heat Heat in its cover

    Held by BDRCS / IFRC-DREF

    How it is released BMD plus global forecast condition

    How it reaches people Cash via mobile money; water/cooling through volunteers

    What we could not find Publish reconciled trigger-to-receipt ledger and establish funded registry-plus-community enrolment.

    An idea, inferred Publish reconciled trigger-to-receipt ledger and establish funded registry-plus-community enrolment.

  3. Anticipatory action
    Dhaka heatwave Early Action Protocol Heat in its cover

    Held by Bangladesh Red Crescent Society

    How it is released Temperature at least 38°C and heat index at least 38 for at least two consecutive days

    How it reaches people Cash/services via implementing protocol; receipt-time distribution not verified.

    What we could not find Full contract/protocol execution, recipient timing, inclusion and causal outcomes require further evidence.

    An idea, inferred Publish auditable trigger computation, data version, release and recipient timestamps, accessible complaints and independent outcome analysis.

The rules, in brief · IDRA; Bangladesh Bank for bank distribution

Index-based (parametric) cover Green Delta heat operation documented; blanket legal permission not verified.

Small-sum insurance Dedicated current microinsurance distribution provisions not verified.

Selling through worker groups and phones 2023 bank corporate-agency route requires prior Bangladesh Bank approval; not permission for all worker groups or apps.

Protection for buyers Bank-channel safeguards in official guidelines; heat policy wording and refusal remedies not verified.

Source archived copy

The Bangladesh country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Lao PDR

  1. Anticipatory action
    Lao PDR–SEADRIF–FAO anticipatory drought extension sandbox Heat not covered

    Held by Lao Ministry of Finance

    How it is released Defined in pilot; numeric value not published in reviewed source

    How it reaches people SOPs co-developed across finance, agriculture/environment, labour/social welfare and meteorology; planned messages and drought farming/water training. Not verified direct cash.

    What we could not find Missing fields do not mean zero payment, ineligibility or an exhaustive claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Lao PDR SEADRIF #PEOPLE sovereign policy, 2025–27 Heat not covered

    Held by Ministry of Finance, Lao PDR

    How it is released 2025 payout tier:300,000–449,999 people.2026 first tier reported after exceeding200,000. Full year-specific schedule not verified; do not harmonise tiers.

    How it reaches people Pre-agreed government contingency plan and safeguards. Named affected-population count is a trigger input, not proof of people receiving cash.

    What we could not find Missing fields do not mean zero payment, ineligibility or an exhaustive claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  3. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Lao PDR government–WFP aligned impact-trigger arrangement, 2026 Heat not covered

    Held by Lao Ministry of Finance and WFP under separate policies

    How it is released First payout after 200,000-person threshold; additional payment after count exceeded375,000; complete legal tier schedule not verified

    How it reaches people WFP operations coordinated with government through a joint plan; recipient-level receipt timing and gender/disability distribution not verified.

    What we could not find Do not add government first payout again when using joint totals. No number of distinct people paid inferred from impact counts.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

Nepal

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Nepal central, provincial, district and local Disaster Management Funds Heat in its cover

    Held by Government of Nepal / NDRRMA and subnational governments

    How it is released Authorised disaster-management/relief expenditure and applicable fund procedures; no universal temperature release threshold verified

    How it reaches people Province–district and local mechanisms under applicable rules. Funds can support activities/services; no automatic personal payment established.

    What we could not find 2017/2019 statutory text reviewed; scanned 2079 procedure retrieved but detailed translation not verified. No heat-only fund balance or cash receipt chronology verified.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Anticipatory action
    rain_heat Heat in its cover

    Held by RAIN/local governments; NDRRMA national coordination

    How it is released Pilot municipal thresholds; national heat release rule not verified

    How it reaches people Health volunteers, water units and local messaging

    What we could not find Fund readiness and heat action in provincial/local budgets with delegated pre-impact release.

    An idea, inferred Fund readiness and heat action in provincial/local budgets with delegated pre-impact release.

  3. Contingent finance
    Nepal Cat DDO,2024 Heat partly covered

    Held by Government of Nepal / Ministry of Finance

    How it is released Qualifying hazard/health emergency; signed withdrawal clause not reviewed

    How it reaches people Institutional receipt is separate from budget execution and delivery to people; actual heat last-mile receipts not verified.

    What we could not find Unknown fields do not imply zero, ineligibility or a full audited claims history.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

The Nepal country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Pakistan

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Pakistan National Disaster Risk Management Fund Heat partly covered

    Held by Government-owned NDRMF company

    How it is released Eligible implementing-partner subproject approval and grant conditions; no automatic heat threshold

    How it reaches people Government finance to NDRMF to eligible implementing partners; project delivery differs from emergency household cash.

    What we could not find Not the same institution as NDMA's National Disaster Management Fund or a proposed separate risk-finance facility. No current liquid heat reserve total inferred from cumulative donor financing.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

  2. Anticipatory action
    pk_rp5 Heat in its cover

    Held by Start Ready and NGO members

    How it is released Pool/version-specific forecast rule

    How it reaches people NGO services; no verified household cash clock

    What we could not find Publish versioned local triggers, deduplicated service counts and residual-risk referrals.

    An idea, inferred Publish versioned local triggers, deduplicated service counts and residual-risk referrals.

The rules, in brief · SECP

Index-based (parametric) cover Sandbox route verified; general heat-product authorisation not verified.

Small-sum insurance Official 2014 microinsurance rules catalogue is background; current consolidated amendments not verified.

Selling through worker groups and phones Sandbox testing does not authorise unlimited mobile or worker-organisation sales.

Protection for buyers Controlled testing and supervisory review; heat-specific complaint and data arrangements not verified.

Source archived copy

Sri Lanka

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Sri Lanka disaster-relief budget and NDRSC delivery channel Heat cover unclear

    Held by Treasury / NDRSC / district and divisional administrations

    How it is released Government relief authorisation and current budget/circular criteria; full heat application not verified

    How it reaches people District/divisional relief and water distribution; heat-specific recipient timing/fairness not verified.

    What we could not find Do not equate dry-weather water support with cash compensation for heat income or illness.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Insurance, pools and bonds
    Sri Lanka historical National Natural Disaster Insurance Scheme Heat cover unclear

    Held by Government / National Insurance Trust Fund / NDRSC

    How it is released Heat not explicitly verified; full policy not retrieved

    How it reaches people Historical district/divisional assessment route; not current heat receipt evidence.

    What we could not find Historical scheme ended according to study; no verified restart or heat endorsement. Drought exclusion is not a basis for asserting all heat losses were excluded.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

The Sri Lanka country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Thailand

  1. Contingent finance
    Thailand emergency disaster-relief advances Heat cover unclear

    Held by Ministry of Finance / DDPM / provincial authorities

    How it is released Current emergency-relief advance criteria/authorised declaration not fully reviewed

    How it reaches people Authorised central/provincial expenditure and relief; no confirmed heat payment chain.

    What we could not find Do not treat 2019 ceilings or a translated general hazard list as current 2026 heat entitlement. This is a bounded existence record, with unresolved legal detail.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

The rules, in brief · OIC

Index-based (parametric) cover Controlled sandbox testing route; national heat-product permission not verified.

Small-sum insurance Current heat-relevant microinsurance provisions not verified.

Selling through worker groups and phones Innovation testing is supervised and limited; normal mobile/worker distribution permission requires separate review.

Protection for buyers Sandbox expressly retains consumer-protection objectives; full redress terms not reviewed.

Source

The Thailand country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Viet Nam

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Viet Nam national/provincial natural-disaster prevention and control funds Heat in its cover

    Held by National fund / provincial People's Committees

    How it is released Approved disaster prevention/control and relief expenditure; no automatic heat threshold

    How it reaches people Central/provincial and local disaster-management channels; no heat-specific last-mile audit verified.

    What we could not find 2025 and 2026 amendments exist. Do not use the 2021 text alone for current contribution exemptions, retention shares or spending caps. Legal heat recognition is not proof of current heat disbursement.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

  2. Anticipatory action
    vn_eap Heat in its cover

    Held by Vietnam Red Cross with IMHEN

    How it is released Current EAP threshold not verified

    How it reaches people Cooling services planned

    What we could not find Resolve service contracts, maintenance and approval delegation before next season.

    An idea, inferred Resolve service contracts, maintenance and approval delegation before next season.

The rules, in brief · Government / Ministry of Finance

Small-sum insurance Decree 21/2023 provides a microinsurance framework; operative metadata verified.

Selling through worker groups and phones Exact eligible mutual/worker/mobile distribution clauses not verified.

Protection for buyers Full Vietnamese decree and later amendments require clause review; heat-specific duties not verified.

Source archived copy

Cambodia

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Cambodia disaster-management budget and reserves Heat cover unclear

    Held by Government / NCDM / Office of Council of Ministers

    How it is released Authorised disaster-management budget/reserve expenditure; exact current heat conditions not verified

    How it reaches people NCDM/ministry/subnational response mechanisms; no verified heat recipient receipt timeline.

    What we could not find Background law and unofficial English translation; no current dedicated heat reserve, appropriation balance or automatic benefit inferred.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source archived copy

The rules, in brief · Insurance Regulator of Cambodia

Small-sum insurance Government strategy reports adoption of microinsurance sub-decree.

Selling through worker groups and phones Strategy reports insurtech sandbox and intermediary conduct measures; unrestricted worker/mobile permission not established.

Protection for buyers Strategy-level evidence of agent/broker conduct measures; operative heat-specific terms not verified.

Indonesia

  1. Budgets and reserves
    Indonesia Pooling Fund Bencana / IndoRisk Heat cover unclear

    Held by Ministry of Finance / BPDLH, coordinated with BNPB

    How it is released Applicable PFB/BNPB verification, eligible-use and disbursement procedures; no heat-specific trigger verified

    How it reaches people Funding to ministries/agencies/local government through authorised channels; not direct household insurance.

    What we could not find PFB is a domestic pooling fund, not a multinational sovereign risk pool. Capital, budget contributions, insurance premiums and releases would ideally remain distinct; no verified heat allocation imported.

    An idea, inferred Publish heat-specific eligible uses, legal release authority, fallback and separate timestamps from warning/report to treasury, implementer and final recipient; align with costed heat action plan.

    Source

The rules, in brief · OJK

Index-based (parametric) cover Product approval/reporting framework verified; heat-specific authorisation not verified.

Small-sum insurance Microinsurance classification and heat eligibility require full product review.

Selling through worker groups and phones POJK 8/2024 governs products and marketing channels including digital channels; not blanket worker-group authority.

Protection for buyers Product and channel governance verified; exact heat benefit and data redress clauses not verified.

Source archived copy

The Indonesia country snapshot · plans, warnings, work rules and money beyond risk finance.

Myanmar

  1. Anticipatory action
    mm_heat Heat in its cover

    Held by Myanmar Red Cross / IFRC-DREF

    How it is released HI rule with observed-day cash safeguard

    How it reaches people Cash/first aid/water/outreach planned

    What we could not find Re-test dry-heat misses and publish accessible fallback and trigger audit.

    An idea, inferred Re-test dry-heat misses and publish accessible fallback and trigger audit.

Singapore

The rules, in brief · Monetary Authority of Singapore

Small-sum insurance Dedicated heat microinsurance framework not verified.

Selling through worker groups and phones Worker/mobile permissions not determined by environmental-risk guidance.

Protection for buyers Heat policy sales, suitability and complaints require separate conduct review.

Source archived copy

Many hands

Who takes part

179 organisations appear in the research. Listing is not endorsement, partnership or ranking. Who holds it up shows who could permit, pay for, deliver and check each action.

68

Who seeks protection

Governments, cities, worker groups and humanitarian agencies that hold the risk and want cover or ready money.

government 49humanitarian 7worker org 6partnership 6

See all 68

49

Who connects and sets rules

Regulators, pools, partnerships and facilities that make arrangements possible and fair.

regulator 17partnership 14facility 8pool 5government 2research 2humanitarian 1

See all 49

62

Who supplies cover, money and know-how

Insurers, reinsurers, brokers, development banks, funders and researchers.

insurer 15partnership 12broker 7research 7reinsurer 3facility 3humanitarian 3government 3philanthropy 3development bank 3modeller 2managing agent 1

See all 62

What changed for people

What the evidence says about effect

Few of these arrangements have been studied for what they changed in people’s lives. Here is what has, each with how it was studied. Some come from outside Asia, or from other hazards, and are shown because they teach something about timing.

Known, inferred, uncertain

What we know, what we infer, and what we are unsure of

The instrument map

Heat finance is a portfolio of funding sources, contracts, authorisations and delivery channels. The 19 categories below distinguish actual heat applications from non-heat models and unverified heat concepts. Risk transfer covers a contracted liability; reserves and borrowing leave the underlying loss with the holder. Anticipatory action describes timing and pre-agreed action. Social protection describes a benefit system and delivery route. Premium support changes who pays for insurance. Results-based finance rewards verified performance and is usually not emergency liquidity. These dimensions overlap, so their money would ideally not be added as if each were an additional protection benefit.

Known
Verified heat applications exist at household, employer and humanitarian-programme levels.
Inferred
A useful Common Shade map would ideally let users distinguish funding source, recipient, release condition and delivery channel.
Uncertain
No issued sovereign heat policy, heat catastrophe bond or heat-health outcome-payment contract was verified in this review. This is a search finding, not evidence that none exists.

Risk layering for heat

Start with a costed response plan, not an insurance product. Retain the cost of frequent needs through budgets and replenishable reserves. Use contingent credit for liquidity needs that justify borrowing and meet drawdown conditions. Consider insurance/reinsurance or capital-market transfer for financially severe, less frequent residual losses. These are tendencies, not fixed return-period boundaries. Timing overlays every layer: forecast releases can fund early action, while ready benefit systems, payroll and public services can deliver support. World Bank guidance describes this layered approach. The Philippines Cat DDO example demonstrates declaration-linked liquidity; SEADRIF demonstrates an impact-linked sovereign receipt. Neither reviewed example proves heat eligibility. For cities, borrowing authority, transfers from national government and procurement rules would ideally be checked separately. Heat's recurring income and clinical costs need routine funding even when no rare-event policy triggers. Prevention remains a recurrent public and employer responsibility. A warming climate also means pricing and attachment assumptions need review, rather than automatic extrapolation from historical loss frequencies.

Known
Different instruments can finance different severities and phases; source availability alone does not ensure delivery.
Inferred
For heat, the recurring budget and last-mile capability may be more foundational than an upper risk-transfer layer.
Uncertain
Optimal attachment points, reserve size, premium affordability and borrowing capacity require local data and an agreed response liability.

Why heat needs different financing designs

Heat can create serious health and livelihood losses without destroying an asset. Harm can develop quickly within a prolonged hot period, and cumulative days and nights matter. Ambient temperature alone does not represent humidity, radiant load, work intensity or indoor exposure. Mortality under-reporting complicates both loss assessment and trigger calibration. These facts support a separation between public-health warnings, permission and resources to act, and contractual payout triggers. They do not establish that any one index is universally superior.

Known
Heat-health risk depends on exposure, duration and vulnerability; under-reporting and delayed delivery can obscure need.
Inferred
Different response costs may warrant different trigger families and a lower-threshold retained fallback.
Uncertain
The best local index, station/grid resolution, verification method and health-income calibration cannot be specified from a global map.

What can be said about the heat protection gap

No verified Asia-wide estimate matching heat-specific economic losses to heat-specific insured compensation was found. The nearest auditable regional comparison here is Swiss Re sigma 1/2025, table 3: Asia's 2024 disaster-event economic losses were USD 66.5 billion and insured losses USD 11.1 billion. Subtracting the rounded figures gives approximately USD 55.4 billion uninsured, or 83.3%. This table includes natural and man-made disasters and is not a heat estimate. Its economic-loss definition emphasises direct damage and property-related business interruption; it excludes wider indirect earnings/GDP and non-economic losses, and its insured-loss definition excludes life and liability. The dataset covers 104 qualifying Asian disaster events, not a population sample. Source currency is USD, price year 2024, conversion in this report 1 USD = 1 USD. Underlying foreign-currency losses were converted by sigma using occurrence-year end exchange rates and inflation-adjusted as described in its methods. Event-level original currencies and rates were not reproduced in the regional aggregate. Kind: economic-loss estimate, insured-loss estimate and calculated uninsured-loss estimate-not premiums, limits or bank-confirmed payouts. No counterfactual baseline is applicable. These scope limits make the statistic an especially poor proxy for heat mortality, daily wages or informal work.

Known
A broad regional uninsured-loss comparison is available; its scope is explicitly wider in hazards and narrower in welfare losses than the question about heat.
Inferred
A heat-finance gap assessment would ideally separately measure unfunded response costs, uncovered income/health harm and delays in delivery.
Uncertain
Asia's heat-specific insured share and the amount reaching affected people before harmful coping remain unquantified here.

Our own check We have not yet been able to open the cited table and confirm these regional figures ourselves, so they are shown as the research reported them, with its caveats. They cover all disasters, not heat.

Evidence and publication boundary

This is a targeted, source-linked landscape map checked on 31 October 2026, not an exhaustive systematic review or a contract-level due-diligence certification. Searches prioritised South and Southeast Asia, then Africa, Middle East and Latin America, with Hong Kong and Japan retained for specific transferable design lessons. English searches were supplemented by Japanese primary product documentation and French administrator leads. Missing primary access is recorded, not silently replaced by a claim of verification. Historical policy-year records are separated from current programme availability. Loop/lever mappings and possible causal pathways are analytical interpretations; they are not evidence that any scheme has changed a feedback loop. No comparative ranking was undertaken.

Known
Reported payment activity is not equivalent to an evaluated health or income effect. The J-PAL page describes a randomized encouragement evaluation design; reviewed material does not report its results.
Inferred
Publication would ideally distinguish existence, contractual design, actual cash receipt and measured effect as separate filters.
Uncertain
Current renewals, full trigger schedules, customer complaints, rejection rates and subgroup access remain incompletely documented.
What we could not verify, and left out (135)

Things that were reported, claimed or likely, but that we could not confirm from a source we could open. They are not on this page as facts. If you can help confirm one, please tell us.

  • Sovereign parametric heat insurance and heat catastrophe-bond dealsNo executed heat-specific contract, premium, trigger schedule or payment verified; category retained only as concept/direct-model comparison.
  • Generic business interruption or cattle mortality policies as confirmed heat coverHeat-specific operative wording and claim record not verified; do not assume heat or milk-yield loss is covered.
  • InRisk Gujarat milk-union sample policy as an issued transactionProvider labels terms as a sample; no policy year, issued policy or payout corroboration. Monetary schedule excluded.
  • Ushma Kavach numerical thresholds, enrolment, premiums and paymentsPrimary blog confirms product purpose and launch but not these transaction fields.
  • SEWA money figures without a reproducible original-currency/FX recordReviewed case study's conversions do not establish each historical transaction rate. Monetary amounts withheld; distinct programme years retained.
  • SEWA 2025 low-loss-ratio and cash-threshold comparisonsCase study uses different cash-threshold descriptions across passages. No reconciled schedule or denominator admitted.
  • Bangladesh EAP budget as paid cashActivation budget is not payout or disbursement. Budget USD conversion not verified; financial amounts withheld.
  • Bangladesh reach counts pooled across different sourcesPeople, households, cash recipients, service contacts and awareness reach differ. IFRC cash-recipient statement retained as reported, not added to other denominators.
  • Start Ready RP5 dashboard financial amount and reach totalsReadable page does not identify currency alongside amount; reach values vary across indexed/retrieved versions and may include outreach. No combined paid-recipient total or converted financial amount admitted.
  • Start Pakistan historical GFS trigger as the RP5 2026 triggerA historical design source cannot establish current thresholds, verifier or lead time.
  • Jamaica announced full payout as settled cashReviewed issuer notice says the government will receive funds. Bank-confirmed receipt and days-to-cash not verified.
  • Current India heatwave SDRF eligibilitySearch index and retrieved MHA page disagree; other official guidance says heat was not nationally notified. Current dated notification and state norms required before asserting entitlement.
  • CACOBATPH precise contribution rates, eligibility and repayment deadlinesAdministrator page returned 502 on direct retrieval. ILO's accessible account supports existence only; granular figures excluded.
  • Philippine statutory disaster-fund percentages as current verified heat financeOfficial law mirror returned 403; current amendments, implementing rules and heat use not verified.
  • Latest Asian protection-gap figures from an unreadable Swiss Re pageOnly indexed text available; older accessible sigma report used instead, with scope and year explicit.
  • Heat-health results/outcome-payment dealIFC supports the financing concept for sustainable cooling, not an identified outcome contract paying for avoided heat illness/deaths.
  • UNDRR 2026 report detailed case-study claimsLanding page accessible but download resolved to a download-interstitial page; only landing-page summary used.
  • Independent effects of heat-insurance paymentsNo completed independent causal effect estimate verified. J-PAL project description is not evaluation results.
  • Other global leadsSenegal CREWS heat work, MENA insurance diagnostics, Brazil anticipatory-social-protection assessments and Indonesia coffee insurance were discovered but not admitted as verified heat payout schemes.
  • SEWA 2024 two-day threshold rangeCGAP and ILO give different ranges. Full schedule is not verified; neither range is presented as definitive.
  • SEWA 2024 cash thresholdILO and HERA accounts differ. Cash assistance is distinct from insurance; thresholds cannot be reconciled without the governing rules.
  • SEWA 2024 maximum heat benefitA stated cap and reported maximum individual receipt differ in the institutional account; cap withheld.
  • SEWA 2025 aggregate reach and total paymentsDifferent sources use different product/year populations. Product-year counts and multi-peril totals are not added or labelled heat-only.
  • VimoSEWA heat insurer and current contractAcknowledgements span multiple partners/perils. Exact heat carrier and final revised schedule not established. A discontinued ICMIF link returned 410.
  • VimoSEWA current pausePause is reported in July 2026 news; newer primary operator confirmation not found.
  • MHT threshold consistencyReport overview and recommendation wording differ slightly for Vadodara. Overview table retained; signed schedule not retrieved.
  • Jan Sahas 2026 expansion / Mumbai humidity triggerNews leads found; current named policy schedule and paid-claims record not verified. Not merged into the 2025 record.
  • ClimateSafe retail legal wordingAvailable commercial parametric wording is not confirmed as the retail ClimateSafe contract. No transfer of exclusions or UIN between the two.
  • Bangladesh detailed geography and pricingAnnual report settlement milestone is verified, but complete service geography, premium, threshold and receipt latency remain unresolved.
  • Ushma Kavach distinct populationBrand existence verified; overlap with earlier IBISA dairy products cannot be excluded. No extra beneficiaries inferred.
  • Heat-only Iraq payoutWFP reports combined drought/heat results. Heat attribution, exact payment dates and recipient receipt latency not verified.
  • Heat-only RWBCIS enrolment and claimsFramework covers extreme temperature but overall agricultural-insurance claims cannot establish heat coverage or heat payments.
  • Vietnam Hillridge / MSIG / irrigation bundleDrought/rainfall and irrigation partnership leads found. An explicit insured high-temperature trigger was not verified; excluded from core heat insurance list.
  • Arbol example scheduleHigh-temperature page contains inconsistent hurricane-related example content. Overview retained; example thresholds and amounts withheld.
  • Anonymous commercial case valuesNo adequately dated transaction schedule and original-currency valuation for illustrative energy-sector case; monetary figures withheld.
  • HomeNet Thailand carrier and benefit capProgramme source does not identify an insurer and has inconsistent duration wording. Kept as related initiative, not confirmed licensed insurance.
  • eSewa legal classification and paymentWallet protection plan exists, but insurer, contract and actual benefit credits not verified.
  • HERA pregnancy, Los Angeles and regional expansionAnnouncements and programme expansion do not establish issued cover or paid claims in each place.
  • Prospective randomised evidenceJ-PAL describes a randomised-evaluation project; completed results were not located. It is not counted as an evaluated insurance effect.
  • GW evaluation denominatorsHeadline and some tabulations are inconsistent; item denominators cannot all be reconstructed. No recalculation or causal effect size asserted.
  • Prayas historical trigger analysisBacktesting an unnamed product is useful for design scrutiny but is not a paid-claims history or evidence that all providers share the same basis risk.
  • India response-guideline PDF mismatchThe response-labelled MHA catalogue link retrieved mitigation-cover text. Official parliamentary PDF confirms heat inclusion; detailed 2026 response entitlements and individual spending caps remain unverified.
  • India stale web summaryRetrieved web body retains 2021–26 list while search index shows 2026 additions. Current parliamentary and mitigation documents take precedence.
  • India NDRF/NDMF current heat releasesNo complete nationwide heat-specific disbursement and recipient receipt series verified; all-hazard allocations are not heat spending.
  • SDMF versus NDMF limitsReviewed SDMF single-hazard/non-structural caps are not automatically applied to national mitigation fund.
  • Kerala 2026 district allocation denominatorPublished amount lacks unambiguous per-district/aggregate scope; numerical 2026 allocation withheld.2024 departmental release remains a separate verified entry.
  • ARC operating heat productDedicated issued heat cover not identified in operating product evidence. Infectious-disease cover is not general heat-health insurance.
  • ARC XCF issuance and financingDesign, example premium and historical simulated payouts do not verify an issued bond, capital commitment or actual payment. Background timelines are stale.
  • CCRIF heat product and current drought scheduleCurrent product list contains no heat product; older FAQ exploration is not issuance. No dated specific heat launch verified.
  • PCRIC current heat scheduleDrought operation and payments verified through current funder account; no temperature/heat endorsement or heat plan verified. Annual report retrieval hit a verification page.
  • SEADRIF acceleratorDevelopment pipeline is not issued sovereign heat cover, enrolled people or paid benefits.
  • Lao annual tiers and second 2026 institutional splitYear-specific reported thresholds differ; full policy schedules not retrieved. Second joint payment is not allocated between government/WFP by assumption.
  • Lao drought sandbox paymentNo actual sandbox payout or heat extension verified; earlier flood payments are not drought-sandbox payments.
  • Heat/temperature catastrophe bondsNo issued public-holder catastrophe bond or ILS with explicit heat/temperature trigger verified in this search. XCF is concept only; catastrophe/green bonds without heat risk-transfer terms are not counted as heat insurance.
  • World Bank heat drawdownsNo heat-linked Cat-DDO drawdown verified; health-emergency eligibility alone does not prove heat qualifies under each agreement.
  • Philippines Cat DDO4 chronologyOperator account describes postRai disbursement; indexed IEG review gives later full-disbursement chronology. Definitive exact tranches/credit dates withheld pending reconciliation.
  • ADB/IDB exact heat clausesGeneric CDF/CCF scope is not a country-specific heat approval. Current signed loan clauses and heat drawdowns not verified.
  • AIIB PNG proposed totalProposed full CPBF programme amount is not an approved Cat-DDO balance; contingent component separately not verified.
  • Pakistan NDRMF current liquid heat reserveAudited investment/grant entity would ideally not be conflated with NDMA relief funds or new proposed facilities. No heat-specific reserve/last-mile payout verified.
  • Bangladesh 2021 fund-rule detailLaw explicitly includes heat and funds; current operational heat release/claim rules require full 2021 rule review.
  • Nepal 2079 procedure detailsScanned procedural PDF retrieved but detailed translation not verified. Statutory heat inclusion and fund structure are separately supported.
  • Sri Lanka current heat relief and NNDIS restartDetailed 2026 relief circular retrieval was incomplete. Feasibility study says NNDIS discontinued from April 2020; no later heat endorsement or restart verified.
  • Thailand 2025/2026 current clausesUpdated rule titles located, full current emergency-advance and heat eligibility clauses not reviewed.2019 rules are not presented as current.
  • Indonesia PFB heat eligibility/capitalGeneral structure and roadmap verified; no explicit heat eligibility, current audited liquid size or heat disbursement attributed. State-asset premiums are not household heat benefits.
  • Viet Nam amended contribution/spending rulesHeat recognition verified by 2020 law;2025/2026 amendments mean original 2021 contribution shares/caps cannot be assumed current.
  • Cambodia heat release and current reserveGeneral budget/reserve duties verified; explicit heat procedure, current available amount and cash-to-person history not verified.
  • City pool issuance and climate budgetsDesign/public-policy support does not verify issued city policies or heat insurance. A whole climate budget would ideally not be reported as dedicated heat-risk finance.
  • Quezon City commitment and fund codeSigned heat contract verifies commitment, not payment or outcomes. Funding-account attribution between code and tender descriptions requires reconciliation.
  • Nagaland policy versionsTata AIG pilot/support lineage not merged with newer SBI-labelled reporting. Observed temperature/humidity data do not establish insured heat peril.
  • Philippines pilot minor source discrepanciesMain text and appendix differ slightly on first payout amount and event date. Appendix amount used; six-week first event interval treated as approximate. Later household/LGU outcome not inferred beyond July 2020.
  • CCRIF cumulative totals and dated marketingDifferent retrieved page versions show different cumulative totals/member descriptions; no aggregate financial/reach count imported. Product-specific terms take precedence.
  • CERF heat-specific operational frameworkNo endorsed heat-specific financial protocol/activation verified; mixed-hazard portfolio totals omitted.
  • WFP heat-triggered cash activationNo verified heat-only release ledger found; portfolio-wide results are not heat results.
  • FAO heat-specific SFERA allocationAA allocations exist, but no explicit heat-trigger transaction verified.
  • UNICEF heat finance activationGuidance verified; triggered heat grant, threshold and transaction not verified.
  • RAIN provincial heat EAP adoption in 2026Planned in 2025 slides; signed 2026 provincial protocol and appropriation not verified.
  • Nepal national heat financing entitlementNational framework endorsement reported; government text timed out, detailed legal authority and funded heat rule not verified.
  • Start RP5 monetary total and unique reachPublic dashboard lacks currency in amount field and has markedly different protection/reach fields; repeated plan-page totals would ideally not be summed.
  • Start RP2 unique direct recipientsInternal report counts differ; do not choose or add them.
  • BDRCS exact receipt dates and final PDM methodsPrimary indexed extract confirms delivery; full final PDF not parsed.
  • Myanmar actual activation/payout through check dateDesign verified; no activation report verified in this review.
  • Burkina Faso actual activation through check dateProtocol and update listing verified; completed activation ledger not retrieved.
  • Vietnam 2024–26 non-activation/closure2026 news suggests project closure and non-activation, but primary final report not retrieved. Do not extend 2022–23 finding.
  • Kyrgyzstan 2025 actual reach and spendingActivation targets/budget verified; completion not verified.
  • Greece actual expenditure and unique direct reachFinal report exists but full file unparsed; mass-media audience not counted as direct service recipients.
  • ADRA India pre-agreed forecast financeProgramme exists; threshold, released amount, funding source and payment times not verified.
  • Other city/national heat warning plansWarning or seasonal public expenditure alone does not establish pre-agreed forecast-released money.
  • MENA and Latin America heat-specific operational grantsSearch identified planning, awareness and multi-hazard/drought action, but no additional heat forecast-linked transaction meeting inclusion rule.
  • Heat-related mortality/livelihood effectsNo reviewed counterfactual evaluation isolated causal effects of pre-agreed heat finance.
  • Actual heat-payment ledgerFor ESI, PM-JAY, ECP, CACOBATPH, CIGO and WICA, no verified heat-specific recipient count, paid aggregate, receipt date or trigger-to-money-in-hand distribution was located. This is not evidence that no claims were paid.
  • India rural summer allowanceCurrent uniform summer allowance, heat-stop full wages and Rajasthan/AP rural reduced-task entitlements not verified from primary current orders; excluded as benefit claims.
  • India transition implementationDetailed state schemes and heat-specific wage protection after July 2026; current ESI contribution/waiting rules under the labour-code transition require full primary verification.
  • Rajasthan urban signed heat orderOrder existence verified in catalogue; attachment, exact working hours and pay-preservation terms not retrieved.
  • Delhi construction-welfare summer kitsProcurement lead and heat advisory found, but completed distribution, actual paid value and coverage not verified. No construction-board heat cash programme admitted.
  • Delhi construction-ban cashAir-pollution stoppage compensation is not evidence of a heat payment; excluded from heat totals.
  • Bangladesh current allowance rateCurrent FY2026–27 rate, primary eligibility rules and any automatic heat top-up not verified. Historical rate in analytical report not used as current benefit.
  • Brazil Bolsa Família Instruction 55Official catalogue verifies the August 2026 instruction's existence. Heat-specific sanction-relaxation details found in a legal mirror were not verified against accessible primary full text; excluded from scheme table.
  • Thailand completed 2023 bill creditsReviewed source records approval-seeking proposal, not completed credits; paid status and recipient totals not verified.
  • Korea heat-driven frontloadingA news lead suggested a 2025 timing change; primary confirmation not verified. Current seasonal benefit is verified separately.
  • Algeria current parameters and paymentsExact current wage fraction, qualifying hours, geographic coverage, contributions and reported local heat payment figures not fully verified in accessible primary documents; omitted.
  • Fiji current activation2024 design verified; full protocol, current status, activation/payment history and any heat extension not verified.
  • Direct comparison with insuranceNo reviewed heat-specific head-to-head evaluation establishes a social-protection route as cheaper, faster and more inclusive than a new insurance product.
  • Additional country leadsNo verified heat-triggered national cash top-up was established here for Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia or Vietnam. Absence from this bounded review is not evidence of absence.
  • Unreconciled Bangladesh workdaysReport states 25 million; launch release states 250 million for 2024. No reconciled workday estimate admitted.
  • WBGT payout examplesNo issued measured- or modelled-WBGT heat-finance payout verified; Singapore monitoring/action is not payment.
  • UTCI payout exampleDataset availability and physiological relevance do not establish an issued UTCI payout.
  • LST payout exampleHotPay is feasibility work; no issued policy, premium or paid trigger verified.
  • Night-only or excess-mortality heat payoutNo verified standalone hot-night or heat-excess-mortality payment admitted.
  • Probability-based heat paymentAlbania protocol lead found in indexed PDF, but full text was not readable; numerical probability rule withheld. Dhaka forecast threshold is verified separately.
  • SEWA complete trigger data and disputesPhysical satellite variable, exact named dataset/version, full benefit curve and independent calculation/dispute terms not established from public case summary. Generic ICICI wording is not the SEWA schedule.
  • SEWA timing reconciliation2026 case study reports two–three weeks for the second pilot; 2025 research slides describe four–six weeks. Different periods/samples/clocks; no pooled mean or universal promise.
  • SEWA achieved evaluation sample and impact resultsJ-PAL planned village count differs from 2025 presentation count. No reconciled achieved sample or final causal results verified.
  • Delhi gig-worker trial resultsProject design verified; results explicitly forthcoming. Treatment descriptions are not paid-benefit or effectiveness evidence.
  • Health-cost monetary scopeVietnam model price-base/heat-only scope not sufficiently resolved; China stroke abstract lacks identified city, observation years and sample. Exact monetary/effect claims excluded from main table.
  • Public-spending loss seriesNo comparable event-coded audited heat-attributable public-expenditure series verified in reviewed Asian sources. Budgeted plans are not fiscal losses.
  • Current Asia station densityNo consistent regional denominator, hourly variable-complete usable-station count or audited uptime computed. IMD product-input count would ideally not be described as the national total.
  • Crop field-loss extrapolation and datesPot treatment does not establish national field loss; paper's stated seasons and sowing-year text differ. National loss extrapolation excluded.
  • Kenya detailed effect and coverageFull study sample/outcome definitions and current product terms not verified from reviewed author summary. Numerical treatment effects and present-day premiums withheld.
  • Dhaka actual cash clockActivation verified, but this R6 source set does not verify recipient cash amounts/dates. Protocol targets and budget lines are not payouts.
  • Premium and sovereign-cover effects of undercountDirection and magnitude of premium/sovereign liability changes depend on contract, exposure and model; no quantified causal premium effect verified.
  • Nepal operative index-insurance and digital clausesNIA directive catalogue was indexed, but full text repeatedly timed out. Index-Based Insurance Directive 2082 is a retrieval lead, not a legal finding.
  • Bhutan current heat/micro/mobile rulesRMA catalogue and insurance PDF retrieval timed out; old indexed rules cannot establish current permission.
  • Afghanistan current insurance permission and consumer rulesMoF insurance page returned only a loading shell; old search listing is not an operative legal text.
  • Lao PDR detailed insurance clausesOfficial department verified but operative text not exposed.
  • Timor-Leste heat and mobile distribution provisionsInstructions catalogue read; individual licensing and conduct clauses not reviewed.
  • Myanmar consolidated current product/distribution rulesCatalogue read; later amendments and implementation not consolidated.
  • Sri Lanka explicit heat/index and dedicated microinsurance permissionOfficial portal establishes supervisory context, not specific operative permission.
  • Swiss Re Foundation as payer of Asian heat premiumsCommercial Swiss Re capacity, SCBF support and Swiss Re Foundation are different institutional claims.
  • MHT detailed 2026 premium, thresholds and payoutsNews and secondary leads not reconciled with a current policy schedule or primary settlement record. No amounts imported.
  • KM Dastur / Jan Sahas / Go Digit additional city transactionPrimary contract, trigger and settlement documentation not retrieved.
  • IAIS 2025 climate application-paper detailed clausesPDF retrieval timeout; no specific clause imported. IAIS institutional role is separately sourced.
  • HERA Materna issued policy / premium / payoutJune 2026 announcement specifies intended first heat season in 2027. Do not report as a paying scheme.
  • SEADRIF accelerator insured limit / issued heat policy / heat payoutOctober 2026 development announcement is not a transaction or settlement record.
  • Worldwide absence of capacity for heat mortality, clinics or citiesA public-source search cannot establish global non-existence; private placements may not be disclosed.
  • Independent effect of the admitted premium subsidies on heat illness or incomeOperational reports do not establish a counterfactual causal impact.

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Everything on this page, free under CC BY 4.0. Money stays in its kind, the three triggers stay apart, and every source carries the result of our link check.

Common Shade. Paying when heat strikes: heat risk finance in South and Southeast Asia. beattheheat.asia/paying-when-heat-strikes/. Checked 31 October 2026. CC BY 4.0.

Listing is not endorsement and is not financial, insurance or investment advice. Figures are as reported by their sources on the date checked; amounts are in the currency reported, with a US dollar figure only where the source gave one.

Something here wrong, out of date or unfair? We would be grateful to hear it, and we will correct it in the open.

Paying for protection · Follow the money · The protection-gap loop · The reactive-spending loop · Countries

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