The government today faces calls to better tackle the health risks presented by overheating homes, as experts call on Ministers to develop a formal National Heat Risk Strategy in anticipation of more intense and frequent heatwaves.

The calls will come at an event hosted later today by the London School of Economics and Political Science, titled ‘How should London cope with more summer heatwaves and wildfires?’

Previous research has shown that deaths in London start to increase when the two-day average maximum temperature exceeds 24.8C, while almost 400 deaths in London were attributed to five periods of heatwave conditions last summer.

Heat-health alerts have also already been issued by the Met Office and the UK Health Security Agency this summer, prompting fresh warnings from business groups and environmental campaigners that policymakers are not doing enough to respond to the health and productivity risks presented by extreme heat.

Speaking at the event later today, Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and chair of the London Climate Change Partnership, will caution that while many people look forward to warm summer days, lives are already being lost and the economy is being hit by a lack of preparedness for more intense and frequent heatwaves.

As such, the forthcoming revision of the National Adaptation Programme – due to be published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – presents an opportunity to provide “an integrated and joined up cross-departmental approach to preventing the damage to lives and livelihoods from heat, particularly in London”, he argued.

“The government’s current approach is largely limited to the Department of Health and Social Care, while other relevant departments, particularly the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Transport, seem to be ignoring the risks,” Ward will say.

The government has faced repeated criticisms over its last National Adaptation Programme, which was published in 2018 and was widely condemned as being underpowered. The official Climate Change Committee has repeatedly warned the government is failing to invest sufficient time and funding in enhancing the UK’s climate resilience, including its preparedness for more intense heatwaves and wildfire risks.

Ward will today call on the government to ensure the updated version of its adaptation strategy is “much better”, arguing that the failure of the previous plan “has led to the loss of lives and livelihoods in London and across the UK that could have been prevented”.

“London is particularly exposed to the effects of hot weather because of the urban heat island effect,” Ward will warn. “Its dense population of people working and living in London, and the infrastructure they use, makes London a hot spot for heat-related risks. Climate change is significantly increasing these risks.

“High levels of local air pollution from traffic and industrial activities, particularly on hot still days in cities such as London, can also add to the risks from heat.”

BusinessGreen contacted the government for comment but had not received a response at the time of going to press.

Today’s event follows the release of a policy briefing from the London School of Economics and Place Based Climate Action Network in partnership with the British Red Cross, which warns the UK would struggle to cope with a repeat of last summer’s record temperatures – which topped 40C in July and are estimated to have killed more than 70,000 people across Europe.

A Heatwave Plan for England released off the back of last summer’s record temperatures was replaced this year by an Adverse Weather and Health Plan after a review identified several shortcomings with the original plan.

The latest warnings also follow a study from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute found that over a fifth of the world’s projected population is on track to face “dangerous” average temperatures of 29C or higher by the end of the century without a decisive step change in the pace of global decarbonisation efforts.

Lead researcher Dr Matthew Patterson from the University’s Department of Physics said maximum daily temperatures from the past 60 years indicate that extreme heat events – such as the UK’s record-breaking heatwave last summer – were “no fluke” and are likely to become more frequent as a result of anthropogenic climate change.

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