A cross-party committee of MPs has warned that the UK urgently needs a plan to prevent thousands of heatwave deaths a year as the climate continues to warm.
The MPs’ report said that more than 4,500 people died in heatwaves in 2022 and this number could rise to 10,000 a year by 2050 without action. Heatwaves are “silent killers”, the MPs said, pushing up heart rate and blood pressure, with those over 65 and with existing health problems most at risk.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) reported that mental health is also affected, with the risk of suicide twice as high when temperatures rise from 22C to 32C, and poor sleep due to hot nights can cost the economy £60bn a year in lost productivity.
According to the Met Office, temperatures in the UK rose above 40C in 2022 for the first time, and 2023 was the world’s hottest year on record. But record hot summers could happen every other year by 2050. Scientists are clear that every heatwave is being made more likely and more intense by the climate crisis.
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The social and economic case for rapid work to protect people from heat is a “no brainer”, said the MPs. The report calls for more green spaces, fans in homes, and window shutters and white-painted roofs to reflect the heat of the sun. Almost 5m homes in England already suffer from summer overheating, the MPs said, making the scale of action required “vast”. But the work could be done alongside energy efficiency retrofits, they said.
“The record temperatures we are seeing, triggered by climate change, pose significant risks to health and wellbeing, and swift action must now be taken to adapt to the UK’s changing climate,” said the EAC’s chair, Philip Dunne.
“Measures to address the risks from overheating are simply a no-brainer, yet none are being rolled out at scale,” he said. “Existing government policy fails to grasp the urgency of the task at hand.”
The government’s most recent climate adaptation plan was described as “very weak” when published in July 2023. The EAC report said: “It is mainly a compilation of existing policy and initiatives and does not demonstrate sufficient urgency or ambition.”
The report recommends nature-based solutions such as parks, trees, ponds and green roofs to cool communities, citing evidence that large cities like London can be up to 8C hotter than surrounding rural areas. It also said the government should consider changing building regulations to encourage the use of ceiling fans.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
