The Role of Chief Heat Officers: Jane Gilbert

People living in urban areas are bearing the brunt of extreme heat. Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather fatalities in the United States, and it disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations— including elderly people, people with disabilities, outdoor workers, pregnant people and infants, and more. People living in densely populated areas are particularly susceptible to extreme heat due to the urban heat island effect, where the concentration of buildings, pavement, and other heat-absorbing surfaces amplifies temperatures and exacerbates heat-related risks. Beyond the impact to individuals, extreme heat poses systemic challenges, affecting infrastructure, agriculture, economic productivity, and the environment. One way that cities and local governments have tackled this issue is through the creation of the Chief Heat Officer role. Jane Gilbert, the world’s first ever city Chief Heat Officer appointed over three years ago in Miami-Dade County, shared her insights with Data-Smart City Solutions about her work bolstering heat resiliency in this innovative position.

Chief Heat Officers support the development of heat resilience strategies in urban areas. The position was originally created and piloted by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center and embedded into a handful of local governments across several continents. These officials coordinate their governments' responses to extreme heat and spearhead initiatives aimed at mitigating the risks and effects of extreme heat on residents. Since Jane Gilbert started in 2021, the foundation has launched the role in other local governments across the world, including Athens, Greece and Freetown, Sierra Leone. While Chief Heat Officers originally started as municipal-level roles, the position has increasingly taken on different forms throughout the country— with the State of Arizona hiring the first ever statewide Chief Heat Officer earlier this year.

Situated in southern Florida, Miami-Dade County boasts a population exceeding 2.6 million and regularly contends with record breaking scorching temperatures. In a 2020 survey, residents identified extreme heat as their primary climate concern— surpassing the hurricanes and sea level rise more commonly associated with the region. The patchwork of governments within Miami-Dade County makes contending with the varied and wide-spread impacts of extreme heat even more complicated— with the county itself serving as the emergency manager lead for the region that includes 34 different municipalities. As the challenges of extreme temperatures transcend geographical and departmental boundaries, allocating resources and aligning the priorities of stakeholders is no easy feat. The Chief Heat Officer role has emerged as one tool to promote a coordinated response addressing the concerns of extreme heat.

As Chief Heat Officer, Gilbert describes her role as a coordinator primarily, creating partnerships and breaking down information silos within and among government and across sectors to enhance the heat resilience of the County. “It’s really cross cutting— my role is to identify policy and procedural changes. Sometimes it's identifying resources, sometimes it's improving internal protocols, sometimes it’s updating landscape code and policy.” Gilbert works regularly with a wide range of people— including, but not limited to, city and town emergency managers deciding updates to heat wave protocols, nonprofits engaged in programs to lower home energy costs for low-income residents, and Parks Departments spearheading tree planting initiatives. Currently, Gilbert and her team are focused on implementing efficient air conditioning units in public housing and weatherization programs aimed at fortifying Miami's housing infrastructure against rising temperatures.

Throughout her career, Gilbert has always pushed herself to work across fields and disciplines. She spent the past thirty years between the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, assuming leadership positions in various nonprofits and philanthropies. Her focus on local government began at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) where she earned her Master’s in Public Administration. At HKS, coursework in community organizing and community development prepared Gilbert to shift her focus towards adopting a community focused lens within local government. Gilbert also served as the first Chief Resilience Officer for the city of Miami, working to address the risks of climate change when she began engaging with residents and learning about the prominence of extreme heat as a major concern. Gilbert held this role for nearly four years before moving into the Chief Heat Officer role at the county.

Gilbert is particularly proud of her role in developing the Extreme Heat Action Plan, which outlines steps for Miami-Dade County to bolster heat resilience among residents and address inequities in disproportionately impacted areas of the county. To create the plan, Gilbert’s office convened the Climate and Heat Health Task Force which included representation from the state health department, municipal partners, universities, the National Weather Service, the private sector, community-based organizations, and community members with lived experience of extreme heat. Through a series of workshops, the Task Force engaged hundreds of residents, local stakeholders, and academic experts to learn about their experiences with extreme heat and develop recommended actions for the County. Gilbert strongly believes in the power of community engagement to ensure the success of the initiative. With the support of the coalition of stakeholders she helped form, she’s been able to more successfully secure various grants and move policies forward. “Through this process, the county was able to create a strong sense of collective awareness and commitment to the work, which is paying off every day.”

As temperatures rise across the globe, local government leadership will continue to play a pivotal role in spearheading responses and solutions. With last summer being the hottest summer on record and this summer also anticipated to break records, Chief Heat Officers will serve as crucial connectors within and beyond government to develop policies that benefit and protect residents from the threats of extreme heat.