We’re feeling the heat and it’s time we did something about it

What a stunning weekend.

Glorious weather, temperatures climbing every day, blue skies and the opportunity to enjoy time outside with friends and family. Then again, there is always another side to a heatwave. What sticks in my mind are the uncomfortable nights with windows wide open as we desperately try to expel the heat that has built throughout the day.

This feeling brought me back to 2022, when I had just moved to London and dealt with the intense heat of that summer, as temperatures rocketed. Forty degrees centigrade was officially recorded in the UK for the first time.

At the time, I was fortunate to live in a flat that barely needed heating in the winter, but that summer it turned into a sauna. Large windows made the rooms light for much of the year but they were unbearably hot during the heatwaves. Walking around with an ice pack became a regular feature of life on the hottest days.

Despite being uncomfortable and often dehydrated, I was fortunate. Had my building been a care home, or if someone pregnant had been living there, or with a preexisting condition, the consequences could have been severe.

Evolving climate risk

That year, there were roughly 3,000 heat related deaths across England and Wales. It wasn’t an isolated event. Every year, thousands of people suffer early deaths related to high heat. The figures are alarming: if we fail to adapt well to a changing climate, this number could rise to 10,000 by 2050.

Changing temperatures are also increasingly putting pressure on water sources. Much of south east England suffered from drought in 2025, and into 2026, requiring restrictions on water use. Similar impacts stretched as far north as Scotland which also experienced early local signs of water scarcity.

While too little water is a consequence of climate change, the reverse is also true. The changing climate is giving us warmer wetter winters as well as hotter drier summers. Already, 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding and the number of properties at risk is going up. Aviva’s analysis shows that, between 2022 and 2024, 11 per cent of properties were built in at risk areas, up from eight per cent the decade before.

Our way of life is under threat

The government’s official climate change advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), released a new report last week that describes many of these challenges, and suggests that the British way of life is under threat if we don’t adequately prepare. It goes beyond previous work the advisers have provided to government on climate adaptation, setting out sector wide targets to achieve by 2050. Crucially, it puts forward suggested actions the government can take to achieve these goals.

Actions suggested include setting a maximum working temperature, long called for by trade unions, to ensure employers are responsible for providing safe working conditions for their staff. It also advises accelerating measures on cooling for the most vulnerable such as low income pensioners. It advises managing flood risk, building out water supplies, investing public money in nature restoration, supporting farmers to adapt their practices to changing climate conditions and extending the scope of the Adaptation Reporting Power to more parties, including large food companies.

Now political action must follow

This report and its timing are critical, but for now it just remains advice. It’s up to the government to take it, and work with all sorts of organisations and agencies: businesses, civil society, local authorities and community groups, to protect the country.

Green Alliance set up an Adaptation Task Force to raise awareness of the need for this change and to develop the policy solutions that will be needed in the years to come. It brings together businesses across sectors already setting the example and leading change. It includes Aviva and the National Trust, pioneering natural flood management projects; Wessex Water, investing in infrastructure for a more secure water supply ; SSE, creating adaptive strategies for a more resilient energy system; and OVO and Zurich Resilience Solutions, who are taking the initiative on cooling solutions. Read more about these projects here.

There’s plenty of good practice, it just needs scaling up across the country, with a national strategy driving the vision and coordinating action commensurate with the risks the country is now facing.

All parties should heed this report’s calls. Flooding, drought, wildfires, food price inflation and coastal erosion will happen in constituencies across the country, whichever party is in charge.

Now it is up to us to build the political, economic and social case for a transformative programme of adaptation.