“Drink more water” advice not enough: Ministers urged to set out extreme heat plan and max workplace temperatures 

• Government urged to “stop winging it” on extreme weather and start planning
• Greenpeace calls for heat safety plans for schools and hospitals
• Campaigners want a tax on fossil fuel profits to pay for climate adaptation

As a relentless heatwave grips the UK and threatens to topple June temperature records, environmental campaigners are urging the government to set out an extreme heat strategy to support the country through the summer’s worsening heat spikes.

Greenpeace UK is calling on ministers to rethink how Britain prepares for summer, warning that extreme heat is no longer a rare inconvenience but a growing threat to public health, workers, children and critical infrastructure. A new Met Office analysis indicates Britain could reach peak temperatures of 45C by 2056, with more extreme heatwaves than that of 1976.

With temperatures expected to soar well past 35C across parts of the UK, Greenpeace said ministers must move beyond short-term advice like “drink more water and stay indoors” and introduce proper legal protections for people most exposed to extreme heat.

The organisation is calling for a new Extreme Heat Strategy, including:

• Legal limits on maximum workplace temperatures, and the right to work from home during amber and red heat alerts where possible;
• A requirement for heat safety plans for schools and hospitals as temperatures get hotter, including remote learning when classrooms become unsafe;
• Emergency funding to heat-proof schools, hospitals, care homes and public housing;
• Public cooling centres in libraries, community centres and other public buildings;
• A stronger tax on the fossil fuel industry’s multi-billion-pound profits to help fund these measures. 

The UK currently has no legal maximum temperature for workplaces. The Climate Change Committee’s latest report urged ministers to introduce statutory upper limits for indoor and outdoor work settings, and some unions have done the same.

Greenpeace UK said the heatwave should be a wake-up call for a country still largely designed around mild summers, despite climate change making extreme heat more frequent and dangerous.

Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director Areeba Hamid said:

“The fossil-fuelled climate crisis is turning once-mild British summers into life-threatening heatwaves. And yet ministers are still acting as if extreme heat were an occasional seasonal quirk, when it is fast becoming a regular and serious public health risk. When classrooms become ovens, care homes overheat, transport starts to buckle and workers are forced to toil in dangerous temperatures, it’s clear the country isn’t ready.

“Ministers need to stop winging it on extreme weather and start treating it as the security and public health challenge it is. Progress on cutting emissions has been far too slow, which means we now need proper legal protections for workers, clear rules for schools, cool public spaces, safer homes and a serious plan to protect those most at risk. But adaptation alone won’t be enough. Ministers must also stop fossil fuel giants from turning up the heat on our planet – and make them pay for the damage they are causing.”

Greenpeace UK said the government should publish a cross-departmental summer resilience plan, covering workplaces, schools, hospitals, care homes, transport, housing and local authorities. The organisation warned that those most at risk from extreme heat include older people, children, outdoor workers, people with existing health conditions, renters in poorly insulated homes, low-income households and people living in dense urban areas with little shade or green space.

ENDS

Contact: Greenpeace UK press office on 020 7865 8255 and press.uk@greenpeace.org

Notes:

Greenpeace UK is calling for the government to introduce a national summer resilience plan including:

• Legal limits on maximum workplace temperatures, including for outdoor workers, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee and in consultation with the unions;
• Mandatory paid rest breaks, shade, water and cooling for workers exposed to heat;
• The right to work from home during amber and red heat alerts where possible;
• A requirement for heat safety plans for schools and hospitals as temperatures get hotter, including remote learning when classrooms become unsafe;
• Preventative healthcare visits to heat-vulnerable people;
• Emergency funding to heat-proof schools, hospitals, care homes, prisons and public housing;
• Public cooling centres in libraries, community centres and other public buildings;
• A national programme to protect homes, streets and cities from excess heat through shading, trees, green spaces, insulation, cool roofs and better ventilation;
• A stronger tax on the fossil fuel industry’s multi-billion-pound profits to help fund these measures.