Grantham Institute respond to Met Office provisionally declaring 2026 the warmest summer on record

Commenting on the announcement by the Met Office that 2026 was provisionally the warmest summer on record for the UK, Bob Ward, Policy and Communications Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “This summer’s record warmth is part of a trend of temperatures that are becoming more extreme due to climate change. The extreme temperatures have caused thousands of deaths, wildfires that have destroyed homes and crops, and losses of productivity that cost billions of pounds.

“These temperatures will continue to rise, and the impacts will carry on growing, until the world cuts emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero. British politicians, particularly in the Conservative and Reform UK Party, need to explain how they will pay for the unchecked loss and damage that will be caused to households and businesses from extreme heat as a result of their opposition to net zero.”

Ahead of the publication of the Commission’s framing report, Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the National Heat Risk Commission and Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said:

“The Met Office’s announcement that 2027 is provisionally the hottest year on record is a stark reminder that our climate is changing faster than our systems are adapting.

“Extreme heat puts lives at risk, increases pressure on the NHS and emergency services, disrupts transport and infrastructure, damages crops and food production, reduces productivity and places growing strain on water, energy and our natural environment. As we head into what may be a period of cooler weather, we must use this window to prepare, not pause. We already have the evidence, expertise and solutions needed to build a more heat-resilient UK.

“Now we need action at pace: stronger public services, resilient infrastructure, better prepared communities and investment decisions that both reduce emissions and anticipate the climate we are actually going to live with.We cannot afford another summer of warnings followed by inaction.”