Karin Lundgren Kownacki was born in Umeå, Sweden and has been concerned about the state of our planet since childhood. She has a background in Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth, England and continued to study a master’s programme in Environment and Sustainability Science at Lund University. She quickly learnt during her studies that environmental problems cannot be dealt with exclusively by the natural sciences as they originate from within society. This is her thesis. It deals with the serious consequences of increasing heat exposure because of climate change on worker’s health and productivity. Increasing heat is one of our greatest societal and scientific challenges and is already affecting people’s livelihoods and health. This thesis is her contribution to this challenge.