The sparsely populated area was rated the highest risk in Canberra's region on a newly released "stark" national Heat-Health Risk Index to help residents and decision makers adapt to climate change effects by better preparing and responding to extreme heat events.

Based primarily on open data sources including population statistics and factors like housing, socioeconomic status, access to transport, and vegetation, it is a colour-coded map and interactive tool by the Australian Climate Service. It is designed to show how much more or less likely people are to visit emergency departments, see a doctor or even die under different extreme heat scenarios.

It is described as a snapshot of current conditions combined with modelling of future climates and health outcomes to create a risk score.

Caption: See the Health-Heat Risk Index for your local area, use the zoom function on the bottom right and click on a region. Source: Australian Climate Service

"Adapting to climate risk is a task for all of us. Mapping tools like the Heat-Health Index allow communities to better prepare and respond at a local level," Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister said in a statement.

"It will mean local organisations and councils can not only identify what areas are most at risk of heat stress, but also identify what factors make a difference like housing conditions, and access to green space or transport."

Decision makers will have access to a more detailed map, but there is a public version that can be viewed on the Australian Climate Service website. The service is a partnership between the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Geoscience Australia.

East Canberra has been rated on the heat index map just ahead of several Canberra suburbs and parts of Queanbeyan which were rated medium high risk. They include Kaleen, Charnwood, Page, Richardson, Queanbeyan, and Karabar.

The highest risk rating to human health can been seen across the continent, including in cities, large towns and generally in regional and remote areas, but coastal towns, places of high tree canopy, lower housing density and greater access to services generally have a lower rating.

"By including factors like language spoken, vegetation, and housing; local areas can tailor their response to best fit the needs of communities," Senator McAllister said. "It will help identify locations for cool refuges likes libraries or where green canopy can be planted."

Compare the average heatwave peak temperature across Australia for the 1.5°C and 3°C Global Warming Level scenarios. Source: Australian Climate Service

The grey areas on the national map have no data and are likely to be sparsely populated. In Canberra, this includes suburbs such as Acton, Russell, Mitchell, Gooromon, and new suburbs to the west of Canberra such as Denman Prospect and Whitlam.

The lower risk Canberra suburbs include suburbs such as Civic, Yarralumla, Griffith, Red Hill, Greenway, Gordon, Amaroo, and Forde.

The Heat Health Risk Index is released as part of the first National Climate Risk Assessment, which warns that intensifying climate events, such as bushfires, heatwaves and floods, threaten to overwhelm Australia's Defence Force in coming decades.