NCDP has established a portfolio of initiatives to strengthen extreme weather readiness and resilience for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In partnership with the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawai’i and Haley Aldrich, NCDP has designed and delivered training on Extreme Weather Preparedness for World Cup Cities, equipping stakeholders with risk assessment tools, critical thresholds, and mitigation strategies for hazards including extreme heat, lightning, tornadoes, wildfire, and poor air quality across World Cup venues. Complementing this effort, NCDP is also reviewing heat mitigation and resilience planning at NY/NJ MetLife Stadium, evaluating meteorological conditions, transportation logistics, risk communication, and worker and fan well-being on a game-by-game basis. Together, these projects apply climate science, emergency management principles, and operational planning to identify vulnerabilities and inform practical safety measures, building a foundation of best practices that can extend to future global sporting events in a changing climate.
In partnership with the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) at the University of Hawai’i and Haley Aldrich, NCDP designed, developed, and delivered a training program ahead of the World Cup matches on the themes of Extreme Weather Preparedness for World Cup Cities. The purpose of the Extreme Weather Preparedness for World Cup Cities (EWP4WCC) project was to develop content for a short course (delivered once in-person and once virtually), incorporating content from previous courses and new material developed by NCDP, focused on World Cup Cities, to prepare for the upcoming games.
In addition to reviewing the risks of extreme hazard events, the training covered mitigation efforts specific to facilities and transit operations for specific World Cup venues for games occurring during Summer 2026. The project team has compiled data and methods for risk assessment and risk management for extreme heat, lightning, and tornado threats, wildfire, and exposure to particulate matter. In addition to establishing critical risk thresholds, the project also provided tools for mitigation planning and preparedness for emergency response and recovery. Training curricula were developed and tested for deployment three months, one month, and one week before the games. The curricula were then shared with stakeholders for review, feedback, and improvement. Community partners have also reviewed data sources and risk thresholds, critiqued methods and estimates of probabilistic hazard risks, and described planning actions and interventions to be implemented to reduce harm, injury, and negative consequences of extreme hazard events.
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The National Center for Disaster Preparedness is supporting the review of the heat mitigation and preparedness strategy for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at New Jersey/New York MetLife Stadium by evaluating heat-related and extreme weather conditions.
The goal of this project is to better understand how extreme heat may affect everyone at the venue and to provide recommendations to improve safety, comfort, and operational resilience. To accomplish this, we are assessing various factors in heat-related incidents or emergencies on a game-by-game basis. This includes meteorological conditions, transportation routes and logistics, social media and public sentiment, stadium and FIFA risk communication strategy, and the well-being of stadium workers and fans.
Formal planning and the ingenuity of World Cup communities continue to adapt to changing conditions through precautionary interventions that we will need to continue learning from and building upon to ensure the safety of fans, players, and workers. By combining climate science, emergency management principles, and operational planning, we are identifying potential vulnerabilities and recommending practical heat mitigation measures to support informed decision-making for global-scale sporting events during peak summer months, such as the 2028 Olympics.
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Josh DeVincenzo, Ed.D., is the Assistant Director for Education and Training and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School, Columbia University. He recently received his doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College with his dissertation on “Enhancing Capacity in Adult Climate Literacy: Investigating Sustainability Mindsets in the U.S. Emergency Management Profession.”
Dr. DeVincenzo focuses on developing learning experiences associated with FEMA training projects that navigate housing, economic recovery, mass care and sheltering, pandemic planning, and climate literacy. He has developed instructor-led and web-based curricula regarding financial literacy, economic impact analysis, and community partnerships.
He hopes to create accessible and quality educational programming that benefits the common good at scale. He holds a master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and a Doctorate in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on Adult Learning and Cognitive Science. He has published his work on climate pedagogy and cognition in esteemed journals and outlets such as the Journal of International Affairs, Routledge, State of Planet, and The Hill.
Allison Karabu is a General Projects Intern at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the development of curriculum for FEMA-funded disaster preparedness programs targeting rural and Tribal communities. Her work integrates participatory climate resilience, community engagement, and inclusive program design.
Previously, Allison served as a Climate Resilience Intern with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kenya, co-developing its first Global Toolkit for Community Climate Resilience across six countries and piloting water-security tools now reaching over 1,600 households in rural coastal Kenya. She has also conducted SSHRC-funded research on Indigenous self-determination and participatory methodologies in Brazil and Argentina, examining how local and traditional knowledge inform disaster and adaptation planning.
Allison holds an Honours B.A. in Global Development from Huron University at Western and is pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia University, where she is completing an advanced certificate in data analytics with a focus on climate disaster management.
Louise is currently getting their Master of Science in Climate with an advanced certificate in Climate and Food Systems at Columbia University. Their academic and research interests focus on different modes of action for integrated pest management on grasslands and agroecosystems to support our food system in the midst of a changing climate, maximizing carbon sink capacity in forest ecosystems, and bolstering biodiversity in cities and our food system to make them more resilient against climate shocks. Louise is also interested in behavioral psychology and religion, and how these anthropogenic aspects intertwine with knowledge transfer, action, and communications between science and policy related to climate change and climate justice.
They have 6 years of experience in environmental consulting, with 3 of those years dedicated to GIS/AutoCAD mapmaking. Louise also has a background in environmental communication, beekeeping, and grassland conservation. They have also collaborated to start a Sustainable Food Systems student organization at the Climate School. Louise received their B.S. in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University.
Fabricio Correa Lara is a Field Observer and Research Intern with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia Climate School, where he works on the FIFA Heat Mitigation in the Stadiums project, leading the Transportation section and documenting heat mitigation, thermal safety, transportation systems, and access points during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia Climate School, alongside an Advanced Certificate in Disaster Management.
His research interests focus on the intersection of violence, environmental degradation, climate justice, and socio-environmental governance, examining how environmental crises intertwine with territorial conflict, inequality, and community vulnerability across Latin America. Fabricio has worked with youth and community networks dedicated to environmental defense and collective responses to the climate crisis, and through ENJUVES has driven regional processes linked to the Escazú Agreement, including the monitoring of socio-environmental conflicts and the protection of environmental defenders.
Alaty Adel Almejhed is a Research Intern at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the FIFA World Cup 2026 Heat Mitigation Project, contributing to emergency management research and heat risk assessment for large-scale sporting events. She is also a Communications and Social Media Intern at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, where she helps communicate research on climate law and policy to broader audiences.
Her research focuses on climate adaptation, vernacular architecture, nature-based solutions, and Lo-TEK design, with particular interests in food security, drought risk management, and just energy transitions in the Global South. Previously, she conducted her dissertation research on Saudi earthen architecture as a climate-resilient and culturally grounded housing solution, and led a coastal resilience fieldwork project in Oban, Scotland exploring community adaptation frameworks for storm resilience. Currently, Alaty is working with fellow students to co-found the Sustainable Food Systems student organization at the Columbia Climate School. Alaty holds a BSc in Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews and is currently pursuing an MSc in Climate Science with an advanced certificatate in Climate and Disaster Risk Management at the Columbia Climate School.
