Pakistan's Heat Safety Plans Built on Outdated 2015 Baseline

Pakistan's provincial heat action plans were calibrated to the 2015 Karachi heatwave—a severe but now-superseded reference point. Recent data shows the pattern has shifted: the national mean temperature in 2024 reached 23.52°C (0.71°C above baseline), while Sindh in 2025 experienced 5–7°C anomalies. These successive extremes indicate the historical return periods embedded in existing safety thresholds no longer hold. Infrastructure, agriculture, and public health frameworks designed for an older climate distribution now face exposure they were not engineered to absorb.