Why is the UK so unprepared for extreme heat and what can be done?
Absolutely not, despite years of warnings from its official climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee. “We’ve been telling the government for over 10 years that we are nothing like well enough prepared in the UK for the really hot weather we are seeing now,” said Lady Brown, the CCC’s deputy chair.
The CCC’s five-yearly assessment in 2021 concluded the government was failing to protect people from a fast-rising risk. The report said: “Alarmingly, this new evidence shows the gap between the level of risk we face and the level of adaptation under way has widened [since 2016]. The UK has the capacity and the resources to respond effectively, yet it has not done so … Little preventative action is being taken to address health risks from overheating in buildings, and in homes in particular.”
The CCC’s experts said they were frustrated by the “absolutely illogical” lack of action on adaptation, particularly as acting is up to 10 times more cost-effective than not doing so. The CCC’s repeated call for heat-proofing standards for new homes was long rejected by ministers, who cited a commitment to “reduce net regulation on homebuilders”.
No, because we have entered uncharted territory, with frequent extreme temperatures over prolonged periods. “We’ve got a very severe heatwave at the moment and all the evidence that we have is that they’re going to get worse,” said Prof Nigel Arnell at the University of Reading.
The impact of these extreme heatwaves on people is deadly. “I’ve looked at the heatwaves in the past 10 years and we have had about 2,000 extra deaths each year in England,” said Dr Eunice Lo at the University of Bristol.
Because we spend most of our time in them. “We know that the housing stock is already overheating,”
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