UK should set maximum working temperature rules, advisers say

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. UK should set maximum working temperature rules, advisers sayJust now Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleMark Poynting ,Climate researcherandJustin Rowlatt ,Climate editorGetty ImagesUK temperatures hit 40C for the first time on record in July 2022 but scientists warn that even more extreme heat is now possibleThe UK should introduce a maximum temperature for workplaces to protect people as heatwaves intensify due to climate change, the government's adviser has said. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that rolling out air conditioning and other cooling technologies in schools and hospitals should be one of the government's highest priorities. It warned that increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and floods were threatening the British "way of life", from sports matches to music festivals.

The government said it would carefully consider and respond to the committee's advice, adding it was already investing in flood defences. But Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC's Adaptation Committee, criticised the "woeful" performance of successive governments in tackling the present and future threats facing the UK from climate change. "We need to recognise that there are aspects of our British way of life which are now really under threat from climate," she said.

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"It's not rocket science - we know what to do we haven't yet seen a government that's prepared to prioritise adapting to the change of climate protecting the people and the places that we love," she added. The CCC warned that the "UK was built for a climate that no longer exists today", adding that it is now inarguable that climate change is reshaping our weather. Last year was the UK's warmest year on record, with drought and low water levels affecting much of the country.

That came shortly after one of the UK's wettest winters on record in 2023-24, which triggered widespread flooding. The CCC stresses that reducing carbon emissions is essential to limit climate change, but it says that further consequences for the UK are inevitable. The world has already warmed by about 1.

4C compared with pre-industrial times - before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels - and global efforts to keep warming to well below 2C remain off track. The CCC points to the twin threats of winter flooding and summer droughts, with increasingly wet winters and dry summers expected on average with further climate change. By the middle of the century, peak river flows in some catchments could be up to 45% higher during periods of very heavy rain, it warned.

Meanwhile, shortfalls in England's public water supply could surpass five billion litres per day without stronger action, linked to hot, dry summers and a growing population. Getty ImagesSeveral regions of the UK were hit by drought in 2025But the committee's strongest words are for the threat of extreme heat, which it says is the greatest health risk from climate change facing the UK.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.