Next week the cross-party House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee will explore how the UK should adapt to a rapidly heating climate after the UK recorded its highest ever May temperature on Tuesday 26 May.
The evidence session at 2.30pm on Wednesday 3 June 2026 will build on evidence from its predecessor’s Heat Resilience and Sustainable Cooling inquiry as well as the Climate Change Committee’s major report earlier this month.
During the recent heatwave, the UK Health Security Agency issued its first amber-heat health alert of the year, while the Met Office said the temperature “would be exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone in May”. Previous hot summers have been responsible for thousands of deaths in the UK, as the predecessor committee outlined in its 2024 report.
In the first panel, MPs will ask representatives from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) about its recent call for urgent action to protect the public from extreme heat, including investment in cooling and establishing a national maximum temperature for workplaces. They may also ask about the CCC’s assessment of the Government’s current National Adaptation Programme and what is required from the next iteration – due in 2028 – to meet the scale of the challenges ahead.
In the second panel, MPs will ask about the effects of extreme heat on the economy, on hospital admissions and infrastructure such as homes, schools and prisons.
They are also likely to ask about how extreme heat events are communicated to the public, including whether a Minister-led public information campaign is required.
Witnesses appearing before the EAC are as follows:
Panel one, from 14.30:
- Dr Richard Millar, Head of Adaptation, Climate Change Committee
- Professor Swenja Surminski, Member, Adaptation Committee
Panel two, from 15.30:
- Professor Rowan Sutton, Director, Met Office Hadley Centre
- Professor Lea Berrang Ford, Head, Centre for Climate and Health Security, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- Professor Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute, LSE, and Chair, National Heat Risk Commission
Click here to watch the evidence session live on parliamentlive.tv or to catch up later
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