Heatwave: Govt must strengthen plans to protect people from extreme weather

Commenting on the red weather warning issued for extreme heat later this week, Friends of the Earth campaigner, Denis Fernando, said:

"Extreme heatwaves are becoming hotter, longer and more severe as climate change intensifies, putting lives, wildlife and ecosystems at severe risk.

"We can't cool the planet with sunscreen. We need rapid, tougher government action.

"The UK's official climate advisers have warned that current government preparations for the climate crisis are 'inadequate'. That must change.

"Ministers must urgently strengthen the UK's deficient climate adaptation plans and better protect those most at risk - especially children, older people and disabled people - while also accelerating action to cut the emissions driving the crisis."

Friends of the Earth is calling for:

• A new national adaptation plan to protect people from heat and other extreme weather events
• £1 billion per year for upgrades to cool buildings prioritised in the areas most in need, including hospitals, care homes, and nurseries
• Better insulation and ventilation in homes. Not only does insulation keep homes warm in winter, it helps them stay cooler in the summer.
• More trees, parks, and water features to cool cities.
• Public 'cool hubs', like libraries and community centres, open during heatwaves.
• Heat training for care and health workers on how to protect people most at risk from high temperatures.
• Ensure local authorities and emergency services have the resources they need to respond to wildfires - which have hit record levels, are more frequent during heatwaves and the increasing periods of drought we are experiencing.

ENDS

Notes to editors
1. A Friends of the Earth report, published in August 2025, highlighted the areas of England most at risk from dangerous heatwaves. This included nearly 10,000 (9,589) care homes, 1,012 hospitals and 10,064 nurseries.
2. In a report on climate adaptation - A Well-Adapted UK [May 2026] - the Climate Change Committee, the government's independent adviser, warned:
"Climate change is undermining the UK's security and prosperity. We are already experiencing serious impacts now, and further impacts are inevitable. By the middle of the century, the UK's climate will be much more extreme than today. Hotter heatwaves could see 92% of existing homes overheat, creating dangerous conditions for vulnerable people... Drier summers will mean shortfalls in water supply could reach over five billion litres per day, making drought more widespread. Without global emissions reductions, these risks may go past the point where the UK can protect itself with adaptation measures."

3. In a 2025 progress report on adapting to climate change, the Climate Change Committee, said the UK is not prepared for climate impacts. The CCC listed a number of immediate concerns, including:

• Over a third of railway and road kilometres are currently at flood risk, predicted to rise to around half by 2050. Extreme heat also disrupts infrastructure systems via rail buckling and power line sagging.
• Heat-related deaths already occur in the thousands each year but could rise several times over to exceed 10,000 in an average year by 2050. This increase is driven by the effect of climate change on a growing aging population, which is increasingly vulnerable to extreme heat.
• Estimates suggest that unchecked climate change could impact UK economic output by up to 7% of GDP by 2050, creating challenges for driving sustainable long-term growth across the country.

4. Friends of the Earth and two people whose lives have been impacted by the climate crisis have asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to hear their complaint over the UK government's inadequate climate adaptation programme, which sets out its plans and policies for protecting communities in the UK from the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, flooding and coastal erosion.