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As Europe warms twice as fast as any other continent, heat risks in the UK are intensifying at an alarming rate. More than 10,000 heat-related deaths have occurred between 2020 and 2024. The summer of 2026 – with more than five heatwaves, an unprecedented ‘firewave’, and an ‘exceptionally serious’ drought – saw close to 3,000 heat-related deaths in May and June alone.
In this context, heat has become the most commonly reported climate impact in the UK. This topic thread highlights how it is now making Britons more fearful of the future, parents scared for their children’s safety, and is disrupting the nation’s health, sleep and work.
Heat risks aren’t felt equally. The data increasingly reveals how heat, drought and fires are experienced differently due to politics, region, income and ethnicity. And at the local level people are facing up to heat, drought and fires in different ways: from Welsh farmers embracing nature-friendly approaches, to Birmingham schools and restaurants adapting to the heat.
But despite community actions, the nation has repeatedly warned that we are not prepared. This widespread sentiment underpins why people want climate risks to be taken much more seriously – with urgent action to build resilience seen as a ‘top priority’.
In practice, this translates into support for maximum working temperatures, more greenspace, better regulations, and solid plans put in place for when heat, drought and fires hit. With the affordability of many measures remaining front and centre – rather than the burden falling to those worst affected, the public will be looking to the government and the worst polluters to step up.
This thread was developed with input from the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), Local Storytelling Exchange, and Climate Outreach.
Our CAST briefing paper co-authored with Dr Charles Ogunbode re-analyses and reviews key insights from the pivotal Spotlight report, as well as CAST climate views survey data.
We found that people of colour in the UK are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts. Compared to white respondents, people of colour in the UK were more likely to say they have experienced climate impacts personally. They were also more likely to be concerned about climate change and see it as a serious, urgent threat. And while people of colour experience higher climate anxiety levels compared to white respondents, they also reported feeling greater efficacy and hope and expressed greater levels of support for several climate change policies.
The current evidence base, including the one outlined in the briefing paper, is very limited. Sample sizes don’t allow, for example, robust comparisons to be made between different minority ethnic and racial groups, and this limits their application in campaign and engagement strategies. There is a need a more dedicated focus on the climate views and experiences of people of colour in the UK, with insights budgets that permit truly inclusive samples, prioritisation of projects that paint a more nuanced and richer picture of public opinion on climate change.
Research on the UK’s response to the record breaking 2022 summer heatwaves has found that decision- makers, first responders and community feel England is “not prepared” to manage future extreme heat events – particularly if these were to occur more frequently.
Reflecting on the 2022 heatwave response across England as a whole, as well as specific regions (London, Manchester and Yorkshire and Humber), research participants expressed concerns about a lack of preparedness for the heat, a lack of specific resources and funding, as well as the need for better communication, public engagement and education.
In a related policy note, the authors highlight that:
“The heatwave season of 2022 serves as a warning that England and the rest of the UK are not ready to respond adequately to such extreme heat events. Yet events like this are likely to become more common and severe, thus preparedness needs to be improved to reduce avoidable deaths, minimise the economic impacts of future heatwaves, and shield the most vulnerable from the worst of the effects.”
A new report explores the personal experiences of climate change by people of colour in the UK.
Charles Ogunbode and colleagues report that awareness (and reported experience) of climate change is high: 92% of British people of colour believe that climate change is happening, 61% report experiencing impacts of climate change, and 85% are really worried about the impact of climate change in places other than the UK.
The impacts of climate change experienced by British people of colour in the UK include heat waves (over 60%), severe snow disruptions (25%) and flooding in their local area (20%).
Beyond self-reported experiences of extreme weather, some disproportionate effects of climate change are harder to document – the report notes that London’s Black African and Caribbean population are the most exposed to air pollution, which causes approximately 40,000 deaths per year in the UK, and contributes to many adverse health conditions.
Reviewing research on climate adaptation behaviours, a report prepared by the CAST centre for the Climate Change Committee concluded that most people know very little about how they can prepare for changes such as extreme heat, droughts, or flooding. The authors highlight that it is important for politicians to clearly communicate what types of behaviours are most effective in preparing for a changing climate, and provide advice tailored to the type of risk, alongside other measures like financial incentives for homeowners.
June-August 2023 was the “warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 16.77°C, 0.66°C above average.” In addition “August 2023 was the warmest August on record globally, and warmer than all other months except July 2023”.
There are many actions that people may carry out to minimise the impacts of heatwaves and extreme heat: from personal protective actions during heat events (e.g. using a fan, lighter clothing), preparative measures (e.g. installing blinds or shutters), and other actions, like seeking out more information, moving location, or engaging in political action.
A new review paper shows that a very broad range of factors influence these behaviours, as well as perceptions about heat.
This includes contextual factors (like geography, physical environment and cultural influences), as well as personal level factors (like knowledge and awareness of risks, past experiences of heat, and pre-existing health conditions).
Communication about heat risks can do much to draw on these influences – including tailoring warning messages to resonate with personal factors, drawing on the role of trusted messengers and clearly attributing risks to climate change.
According to research on the media coverage of European heatwaves in 2019, the images appearing in news media about heatwaves and extreme heat generally depict people having “fun in the sun”, across the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. People were depicted having fun in or near water, and enjoying the weather. When images did show the dangers of heat extremes, people were generally absent.
The authors highlight this is a problematic way of showing heatwaves, because it removes the human element of extreme heat risk, and marginalises the experiences of those who are particularly vulnerable.
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.
The summer of 2022 in the UK saw numerous temperature milestones breached. On 19th of July, 40.3°C was recorded at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, setting a new UK and England temperature record by a margin of 1.6°C, while multiple stations across England also exceeded 40°C.
“This heatwave marked a milestone in UK climate history, with 40°C being recorded for the first time in the UK.”
“The UK’s recent extreme heat was far more intense and widespread than previous comparable heatwaves”
Cardiff University survey data shows an increase in risk perceptions around hot and dry weather from 2013 to 2019.
In 2013 only 23% of respondents thought heatwaves were a fairly or very serious problem. By 2019 this had increased substantially to 72% – although concern flooding is still greater.
Flooding was considered a fairly or very serious problem by almost all survey respondents (90%), closely followed by coastal erosion (88%), heavy storms (84%) and periods of heavy rainfall (83%).
The authors note that the “increase in perceptions of heat risks might be partly explained by personal experiences of heat related events (such as discomfort due to hot weather) – in the current survey 70% reported having this experience – as well as media coverage of recent heat-related events in the UK and worldwide.”
In a report that offers a critical evaluation of the Heatwave Plan for England, survey data shows that most people – including those who are most vulnerable – don’t tend to see themselves as being at risk from heat. The authors write:
Most people had positive views of hot weather, and for many it was something they looked forward to as it invoked feelings of good health and well-being. In addition, most adults did not feel that hot weather posed a risk to themselves. As a result, protective measures were often not taken, even those that people felt were effective, such as staying out of the heat and in the shade.
Only 40% of participants aged 75 or older saw themselves personally at risk of hot weather. According to many of those interviewed, risk was associated with physical and mental frailty, not age itself, and there was some resistance, even resentment, to any ‘vulnerable’ label that may be applied to them in this context, as they did not consider themselves ‘frail’.
Making sense of public opinion on climate impacts
People increasingly understand climate change as happening in the ‘here and now’. But there is a long way to go before the severity of climate risks is fully appreciated, and people are fully supported in preparing for and adapting to impacts.