Long-term solutions for China’s heat and drought

Since July, China has experienced the most severe heatwave ever recorded in the world, compounded by the worst drought since record-keeping began in the country six decades ago (1). The areas hardest hit by the combined heatwave and drought fall along the Yangtze River basin, a populous and immense industrial economic belt. Impacts range from disruptions in global supply chains (2) to reductions in habitat for critically endangered species such as the Yangtze finless porpoise. Long-term anticipatory policies are needed to mitigate these far-reaching effects, in China and beyond, yet the current policy approach favors short-term solutions that are ill-equipped to tackle persistent climatic extremes in an era of climate catastrophe.