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Grounded in an analysis of the online discourse around the sweltering summer of 2022 in the UK, ACT Climate Labs issued guidance for anticipating and responding to misinformation around extreme weather, as well as engaging the ‘Persuadable’ 60% of the population who are neither highly engaged nor antagonistic towards climate action.
Echoing earlier work by Climate Outreach around flood risks and communication, ACT Climate Labs recommend not focusing too much on climate during a heatwave (this can be off-putting or appear judgmental/spoiling people’s positive experiences of warmer weather) but using the period of increased climate salience that follows extreme weather to engage audiences then.
New survey data shows that nearly three quarters (71%) believe the government should make adapting to climate risks like floods, heat, and droughts an “urgent, top priority”, while only a minority (15%) disagreed.
The findings, from a nationally representative UK survey in collaboration with Flooded People, highlight the public desire for action on impacts like floods, storms, heat and drought.
While experts in the climate sector separate out ‘adaptation’ and ‘mitigation’, our new data shows that a majority (55%) think these two broad responses should be prioritised equally (echoing our previous tracker insights).
The survey also showed that most people report one or more direct experience of climate impacts. Heatwaves and extreme heat are the most commonly experienced climate impact (felt by 46%). A third have experienced ‘severe storms’ (30%), and a fifth say they have been directly affected either by flooding or poor air quality (both 21%). It’s less than a third (29%) who still say they have “no experience of impacts” at all.
Following months of sweltering heatwaves, record-breaking wildfires and five regions in drought, this week it was provisionally confirmed that 2025 was the UK’s hottest summer on record.
While this new record was made ‘70 times’ more likely by climate change, the overwhelming sentiment is that the country is not prepared for more summers like this. The UK’s official climate advisors, practitioners who work on the frontline of the heatwave response, and the British public all agree that the UK isn’t ready for more extreme weather,worsening heat, and compounding risks like water scarcity and wildfires.
At the same time, there are important perception gaps to address. Despite the alarming statistics about heat-related deaths in the UK, many people were looking forward to the first heatwaves this summer. Lots think that heatwaves will only become a problem for the UK in the future. And many believe that hot weather poses more of a risk to other people, not themselves.
In this context there are important conversations now happening about how to grapple with the growing climate risks in the UK, including the sudden lurch towards air conditioning (despite its potential to make heat risks worse).
For more on the key issues surrounding heat communication, check out our recent opinion piece in Climate Home News.
The public want urgent action on floods, heat, and droughts