A pioneering strategy to protect people from killer heat waves is rapidly catching on across India and beyond, as more communities adopt their own Heat Action Plans (HAP) to shield people from dangerously hot weather worsened by climate change. The Heat Action Plan in Ahmedabad, a major Indian city, was associated with a reduced death rate on hot days, with more than 1,100 deaths avoided each year after it implemented the South Asia’s first-ever HAP in 2013, according to a recent study. The Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan is a necessary step towards protecting our communities from extreme heat and a valuable model for future climate adaptation efforts in other communities across the world.