Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories
In Hot Air, we used two decades of climate data to show how extreme heat has become routine across 23 major apparel production centers in Southeast Asia. This research builds on that work to examine how factories are responding to rising temperatures and climate pressure in real time, before regulation forces their hands.
In this short series of case studies, we look closely at three factories in Vietnam and Cambodia that invested early in cooling and building adaptations. They are worth attention not because they are idealized, but because they are instructive. In each case, factory managers frame heat abatement as an operational decision, weighing costs against steadier output during the hottest months, fewer disruptions, and more reliable machine performance as automation deepens.
Together, these cases show how factories are quietly redefining return on investment under climate pressure, treating cooling not as a compliance expense and more as an operational must in a warming world.
