"RIO DE JANEIRO - Michele Campos feels like crying every summer when temperatures in Rio de Janeiro climb above 40°C (100°F), heating up the cement that covers every corner of the favela of Chapeu Mangueira where she lives and making life unbearable in her windowless bedroom.
“Sleeping is the worst part," said the 39-year-old. "In the favela we experience the heat in a very different way from people who can afford air conditioning."
Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, together with local partners, are now trying to understand exactly how extreme heat strains the livelihoods of the 1.3 million people who, like Campos, live in Rio’s favelas, working-class neighbourhoods built by residents without any urban planning.
“We don’t have architects or engineers. We build out of necessity,” said Valdinei Medina, who heads the Percilia and Lucio Renewable Energy Cooperative, Brazil’s first solar energy cooperative based in favelas.
“When the heat comes, we suffer a lot,” he said."
Bruna Cabral reports for Reuters January 19, 2026.
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