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Climate change has doubled the number of ‘pregnancy heat-risk days’ in the UK, according to research by Climate Central and Round Our Way.
Extreme heat, driven by climate change, poses an escalating threat to pregnancy and maternal health around the world and in the UK. Heat poses a number of serious risks to both mothers and newborns before, during and after pregnancy.
The analysis shows that between 2020-2024 there was an average of 26 pregnancy heat-risk days in the UK each year. That means days hotter than 95% of all temperatures observed at a given location (compared against the 1991-2020 period).
Speaking on this issue – one mother, Amy Woolfson, who gave birth to her baby girl in London during amidst dangerous heat in September 2023, said:
“The thermometer that I had brought from home was recording 26.2°C by my bed at 4.28am. When the sun rose that morning, there was intense sunshine, with the windows on my side of the ward facing into the sun.
“Around 10am I took my newborn down to the ward lounge leaving a note on my bed saying I was trying to find somewhere to cool down. I said come and find me in the lounge and that I wanted to go home. I was very distressed.
“But by 12.45 the temperature had exceeded 29°C in the lounge and was 30.6°C by my bed at 1.35pm. This is completely at odds with official advice, including on hospital leaflets, that a safe sleeping temperature for babies is 16-20°C.
“I do not believe that my safety concerns were taken seriously.”
This story follows others by Round Our Way revealing how maternity wards are increasingly at risk from climate extremes, such as heat and floods.
More than 40,000 extra people died on England’s hottest days between 1988 and 2025 compared with what would be expected in normal temperatures, according to new ONS data.
Deaths from high heat are expected to keep climbing as climate change and an ageing population combine, with older people, children and the unwell most at risk.
The strain has been visible across the health system: A&E departments saw their busiest period on record, with almost 2.5 million attendances a month in May, June and July, with record-breaking heat cited as a key factor. Nurses reported collapsing on shift amid what their union called “inhumane and impossible” conditions.
YouGov’s long-term data tracking shows an uptick in the belief that ‘the environment’ is one of the UK’s most important issues, amidst a summer of unprecedented heat, fires and drought. Although this increase does not match high points across the trend line, or the impact of summer heat episodes between 2022-2024.
The importance Britons placed on ‘the environment’ rose +11% across this summer – from 14% on the 4th May (pre-heatwaves) to a peak of 25% on the 17th of August, before dropping slightly again to 23% on the 24th of August.
These shifts have been particularly noticeable amongst Lib Dem supporters (+17%, from 23% to 40% in the same period), Labour supporters (+15%, from 22% to 37%) and women (+14%, from 15% to 29%).
This data follows a piece by YouGov published after the June summer heatwave, which suggested that the heat had not impacted people’s climate opinions or actions, despite 71% believing the heatwave was likely to have been caused by climate change.
While this certainly appeared true at the time – the latest data suggests this piece may have been premature in catching the full effects of the extreme heat on environmental salience this summer (especially when previous weather extremes have led to spikes in issue salience data).
