Britain's official climate advisers are urging the government to introduce a maximum legal working temperature for indoor workplaces, warning that the country is dangerously unprepared for the rising heat driven by climate change. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) stated that installing cooling systems in schools and hospitals should be treated as one of the highest priorities for the government right now.
The committee pointed to Spain as a working example, where indoor workplaces cannot legally exceed 27 degrees Celsius for desk-based staff and 25 degrees Celsius for those doing light physical work. According to the BBC, Baroness Brown, who chairs the CCC's Adaptation Committee, said successive governments had performed woefully in addressing climate threats already affecting the country. She noted that Britain is now dealing with conditions its infrastructure was never designed to handle.
"We know what to do but we haven't yet seen a government that's prepared to prioritise adapting to the change of climate and protecting the people and the places that we love," she said. The committee warned that more than 90 percent of existing homes could overheat during extreme heatwaves by the middle of this century. Last year was the UK's warmest on record, following one of its wettest winters in 2023-24, which brought widespread flooding.
The committee also flagged that peak river flows in some areas could rise by up to 45 percent during heavy rainfall by 2050. England's daily public water shortfall could exceed five billion litres without serious action linked to hotter and drier summers. Adapting to these conditions will cost roughly 11 billion pounds per year split across public and private sectors. The committee says that figure is likely an underestimate but argues that the long-term savings could run to tens of billions annually.
Baroness Brown also repeated her suggestion of shifting school exam periods away from the height of summer. Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the government would carefully consider the committee's recommendations and noted that investment in flood defences was already under way.
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