UK swelters in third heatwave of the year as western Europe counts cost of hottest-ever June. Britain expands heat alerts while estimates suggest June’s death toll could surpass 20,000 across continent

People shield themselves from the sun at the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace in London. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Shutterstock

 

by  Pippa Neill and Ajit Niranjan

The UK is sweltering through the peak of its third heatwave of the year as countries around Europe struggle to recover from an early onslaught of baking summer heat.

Punishing temperatures pushed higher by fossil fuel pollution have broken records across the continent in recent weeks. Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, scientists confirmed on Thursday, accompanied by high global ocean temperatures that could cause “mass-mortality events” for some species.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday expanded amber heat health alerts to cover all regions of England except the north-east, meaning significant impacts are likely across health and social care services owing to the high temperatures.

 

The UK Met Office said high temperatures would remain through much of next week, which could make the heatwave one of the longest lasting since the 1976 heatwave that killed 250 people. On Thursday temperatures surpassed 35C (95F) in Surrey, falling short of the provisional high of 37.7C recorded at Lingwood, Strumpshaw Hill, in Norfolk on 26 June.

The Met Office said Thursday was the eighth day this year where temperatures had surpassed 34C, breaking the previous records from 2020 and 1976 by one day.

Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London, said the climate crisis was making every heatwave hotter, with events such as this month’s heatwave more likely to occur.

“The heat we have seen this summer is only possible because of the 1.4C of climate change we have to date, due to the burning of fossil fuels,” she said.

Otto said it was misleading to use the term “new normal” when describing this year’s scorching summer heat. “The climate we have today is not stable and continues to warm as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels. As a result, what is ‘normal’ keeps shifting and we’re likely to see much hotter heatwaves like this one in the years to come.”

 Many countries across Europe are still reckoning with the fallout from the last heatwave. On Thursday, Belgium’s public science institute said its June heat was “exceptionally deadly”, with 1,747 excess deaths, while the Robert Koch Institute reported 5,120 heat-related deaths in Germany this summer. Early academic estimates suggest the death toll across the continent could be higher than 20,000.

A firefighter sprays water on spectators watching the sixth stage of the Tour de France between Pau and Gavarnie-Gèdre in the French Pyrenees. Photograph: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty Images

In France, where a nuclear reactor reportedly shut down in high heat on Thursday, scientists said the transformation of homes from “thermal kettles” into decent housing was a public health imperative.

France’s high council on climate, an independent body responsible for evaluating government climate action, urged policymakers to improve housing stock and make the creation of shaded green spaces an integral part of urban regeneration. In hospitals, care homes and schools, it recommended installing shutters, shade structures, ceiling fans, cooling systems, and fixed air-conditioning units.

The annual report, which is in its eighth edition, found France was not ready for the dangerous consequences of climate breakdown and said current policies were insufficient to avoid a sharp increase in risk.

A boy rests inside the Roman theatre in Arles, France. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

The scientists lamented the slowdown in climate action and called for a consolidated plan to phase out fossil fuels. “The cost of inaction is much higher than the cost of the transition,” the authors wrote, “which makes unilateral decarbonisation by major economies a rational choice that brings considerable welfare gains for societies”.

The NHS in England has said it is facing a “summer onslaught”, with the heatwave and the World Cup to blame. Average A&E attendances exceeded 80,000 for the first time ever in June, a new daily attendance record.

The NHS national medical director, Prof Frankie Swords, said the figures showed that summer was putting the NHS under just as much pressure as winter. South Central ambulance service NHS foundation trust said during the June heatwave there was a 118% increase in the number of times 999 emergency call takers directed members of the public to collect a nearby defibrillator for someone in suspected cardiac arrest.

More than 1,000 schools across the UK were either closed or partially closed during the June heatwave, and some schools have taken similar measures this week as they struggled to cope in poorly insulated buildings.

 

Water companies have reported increased demand, with a hosepipe ban already in force for South East Water customers in parts of Kent. Hosepipe restrictions are also being introduced for about 1 million Southern Water customers across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from Friday.

Supermarkets across the UK have struggled to keep their fridge and freezer units running in the extreme heat, with many shoppers finding empty shelves at their local store and a hastily erected sign apologising for the inconvenience.

Rupert Ashby, the chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, said the trade association heard from a number of members who had encountered problems, and shops with older fridge-freezer units were being worst affected.

In older models, the refrigeration cycle components that pump out hot air are typically stored outside the building and are designed to work in ambient temperature. In an extreme heat event they do not work as efficiently, as they cannot pump the heat away.

 

Signs on blinds covering fridges in the chilled food aisle of a Sainsbury’s supermarket in England. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

 “These systems just weren’t designed to deal with this type of temperature because, historically, we rarely had it,” Ashby said. “But a major supermarket chain is probably looking at hundreds of millions of pounds to replace all its older units because they have so many.”

Phil Pluck, the chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, said 50% of cold warehouses in the UK were more than 20 years old with old refrigeration systems, and the hot weather had massively increased energy usage and pressure on the system.

“As an industry, we are finding ourselves under more and more pressure,” he said. “I think we’ve got to admit that our climate is now clearly in crisis, and one of the things that will have to change will be our access to food via retail outlets. It will look different.”

He said open fridge-freezers in supermarkets would become less common, and standard practice would shift to using Perspex doors to keep heat out. Some supermarkets have installed pull-down blinds on their fridge units to help keep food cool.

 Additional reporting Jessica Murray

Hottest May day for nearly 80 years as parts of UK hit heatwave threshold. Highest temperatures of 2026 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as Kew Gardens in London reaches 32.3C

 

The sun rising over London, seen from Richmond Park, on Sunday. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/AFP/Getty

 by Hayden Vernon and Nadeem Badshah

England, Wales and Northern Ireland recorded their highest temperatures of 2026 on Sunday, which was also the UK’s hottest May day for at least 79 years.

Kew Gardens in west London recorded 32.3C (90.1F), Cardiff 27.4C and Armagh 23.4C.

Scotland reached 23.5C in Edinburgh, just 0.1C below the record of 23.6C set in Aboyne on 1 May.

The first area of the UK to hit the heatwave threshold was Santon Downham in Suffolk, which reached the criteria of recording temperatures of more than 27C for three consecutive days at 11.30am on Sunday.

The other areas officially in heatwave conditions are Heathrow, Kew Gardens and Northolt in London, Benson in Oxfordshire, Brooms Barn in Suffolk, and High Beach and Writtle in Essex.

Temperatures could rise again on Monday, with possible highs of between 33C and 34C.

The climate crisis is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat. Large parts of western Europe are experiencing similar peaks, and the French national weather agency, Météo-France, said periods of exceptional heat are to be expected “more and more often and more and more prematurely, and to be more and more intense”.

Margate beach was packed with sunbathers as temperatures climbed over the bank holiday weekend. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

A Met Office spokesperson said: “Breaking the 32.8C May record is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in natural climate conditions before the Industrial Revolution.

 

“What was around a one-in-100-year event is now around a one-in-33-year event.”

The Met Office sets the criteria for a heatwave, which vary by region. In London and its surrounding counties, a heatwave is defined by temperatures reaching or exceeding 28C on three consecutive days.

For many other areas of England and south-east Wales, the threshold is 26C or 27C. For the rest of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England it is 25C.

 

UK heatwave thresholds

Heatwave conditions are met when daily maximum temperatures meet or exceed the local heatwave temperature threshold for at least three consecutive days

 

Saturday was the UK’s first 30C day of the year, the earliest date that temperature has been reached since 1952.

Sunbathers flocked to beaches across the UK, and Lord’s cricket ground relaxed its strict dress code for its members’ pavilion. The Marylebone Cricket Club usually requires spectators there to wear lounge suits or tailored jackets and ties.

 There were also drinks breaks at the League One playoff final between Bolton Wanderers and Stockport County at Wembley and during the Premier League games as the top-flight football season concluded.

A dog cools off at water fountains in Battersea Park, south-west London. Photograph: James Manning/PA

People living in three villages in Kent experienced no water or low pressure for a second day. The affected areas were Charing, Challock and Molash near Ashford, where people first reported supply problems on Saturday evening.

South East Water apologised and said the issue had been resolved overnight, but that supply problems had resumed on Sunday as a result of pumping station issues.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued amber heat alerts on Friday morning for the East Midlands, the West Midlands, the east of England, London and the south-east.

Swimmers at Charlton Lido in south-east London. Photograph: Yann Tessier/Reuters

The alerts will remain in place until 5pm on Wednesday, meaning “an increase in risk to health for individuals aged over 65 years or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases”, according to the UKHSA website.

There were also pleas for caution around open bodies of water such as lakes and quarries to reduce the risk of drowning.

According to 2024 data from the National Water Safety Forum, 61% of accidental water-related fatalities occurred in inland waterways, including rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs and quarries. May that year had the largest number of deaths at 28.

The data also suggests many such deaths occur among people who are not intending to enter the water.

Prof Mike Tipton, the chair of the forum and an expert in water safety and cold water shock, said: “We encourage people to think before entering the water, and if they decide to go in, go to a supervised location, enter the water slowly to reduce the cold shock response and keep breathing under control.

“If people get into trouble, they should ‘float to live’ – roll on to back, tilt head back to keep airways out of the water, do as little sculling arm and leg exercise as necessary to stay afloat until breathing is back under control.”

Tipton also advised against entering the water to rescue someone struggling because doing so often leads to two people in trouble. People should call the emergency services, tell the person in the water to float and throw them a flotation aid if possible, he said.

Last night police were searching for a boy, 15, who had not been seen since going into a lake in Lincoln. Emergency services were called to Swanholme Lakes in the afternoon after reports the boy had got into difficulty in the water.

UK must stockpile food in readiness for climate shocks or war, expert warns. Prof Tim Lang says country produces far less food than it needs to feed population and is particularly vulnerable

 

The UK is one of the least food self-sufficient countries in Europe. Photograph: Major Gilbert/Alamy

by  Helena Horton Environment reporter

 

The British government should be stockpiling food, according to a leading expert on food policy, as it is not prepared for climate shocks or wars that could cause the population to starve.

Prof Tim Lang of City St George’s, University of London said the UK produced far less food than it needed to feed itself, and as a small island that relied on a few large companies to feed its giant population, it was particularly vulnerable to shocks.

The first UK Food Security Report in December 2021 found the country was 54% food self-sufficient. Other rich countries such as the US, France and Australia are all food self-sufficient, meaning they grow enough food to feed their populations without imports if required.

The UK is one of the least food self-sufficient countries in Europe. The Netherlands, for example, which is densely populated, is at 80%, and Spain is at 75%.

“We’re not thinking about this adequately. We’re ducking it,” Lang said, speaking at the National Farmers’ Union conference in Birmingham.

“The default position that others can feed us is hardwired into the British state system, and indeed into the nature of how agrifood capitalism works in Britain. Others are wiser. Other countries are stockpiling,” he said. “Other countries have much more flexibility in their systems than we do. What we glorify as efficiency is now vulnerability.”

Other countries have emergency stockpiles in case of war, food contamination or climate shocks. Switzerland still has a stockpile sufficient to feed its entire population for three months and is increasing it to a year. The UK government’s advice to households is to have three days’ worth of food in their cupboards.

The government has no plans to improve the UK’s self-sufficiency, and will not set a target for food production. The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: “I am not going to come up with a percentage. I would like us to boost food production at home, particularly in horticulture and in poultry where I think that there are real growth opportunities. But I’m not going to give you a figure.”

Self-sufficiency is likely to be falling; production of wheat, beef, poultry meat and vegetables are all down in the past year.

A small gap in food supplies could have drastic consequences. Experts recently warned that one shock could spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK, because chronic issues had left the food system a “tinderbox”.

Lang’s report for the National Preparedness Commission, published last year, found that the UK’s food system is extremely vulnerable to attack due to its concentration with a few large companies.

It found that the 12,284 supermarkets around the UK are “fed” by just 131 distribution centres.

These were a “sitting duck” for drone or cyber-attacks by malign states, he said: “The nine big retailers account for 94.5% of all retail food. That’s nine companies, using just 131 distribution centres. In drone war, that’s a sitting duck.”

According to his report, Tesco, which provides nearly a third of UK retail food, operates via only 20 distribution centres. He said: “When four of the 10 big retailers account for three-quarters of retail food, if one or two of these megafirms was hit in some way, or their tight system of distribution centres was disrupted, the impact on the public would be considerable.”

Lang’s report also said UK civil defence, which involves the preparedness of the population for shocks caused by war, received in 2021-22 the equivalent of 0.0026% of total defence expenditure. He added: “The reality is that there are no binding UK laws specifying duties on either central or local government to ensure people are fed.”

Brexit has also made the UK more vulnerable to shocks, by reducing the subsidies farmers receive to produce food and making it more difficult to import food from our largest trading partner.

 

In the three years from January 2021, agrifood imports from the EU fell by a three-year average of 8.71% a year, compared with the previous three-year pre-Brexit period, according to a University of Sussex analysis.

As climate breakdown makes it harder to grow fruit and vegetables in southern Europe and north Africa, due to extreme weather, countries such as the UK which rely heavily on imports for fresh produce will suffer.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, if the UK continues on current land use, climate and agrifood trends, “by 2050, 52% of legumes and 47% of fruit would be imported from climate-vulnerable countries and supply of vegetables, fruit and legumes is projected to fall short of what would be needed to meet UK dietary recommendations”.

This was already experienced in 2023 when bad weather in Spain and north Africa caused a salad and fresh vegetable shortage across the UK. More than 80% of the UK’s fruit and more than half of its vegetables are imported.

Lang said: “Climate change, the floods and droughts, these are part of vulnerabilities to the just-in-time logistics system of the food system. The key finding of my report was that we created a food system in the name of efficiency, which is now inappropriate for where we are, a concentration of big companies dominating, being the choke points. This creates vulnerability. Drone warfare and software dependence make it doubly vulnerable.”

The professor has called for legislation from the government to ensure the food system is made more secure and able to withstand shocks.

“I’d like it to be a food security and resilience act, something that’s clear about the fundamental purpose of food systems,” he said. The food system needed flexibility rather than being a lean, just-in-time system focused on profits alone, he added. “The purpose of food systems is to feed people. How, what, in what circumstances, if you’re a big commodity producer, is it really feeding people? Is it going to survive when there are shocks?”

Lang also said the UK needed to boost food security and produce more food at home. “We’ve got to build up more production here, not out of petty nationalism, but out of we’ve got good land, good people, good resources, good infrastructure. It’s a crazy misuse of land not to do that. We’re not getting the leadership we need from central government,” he said.

‘Profound concern’ as scientists say extreme heat ‘now the norm’ in UK. Increasing frequency of heatwaves and flooding raises fears over health, infrastructure and how society functions

 

Weather records clearly show the UK’s climate is different now compared with just a few decades ago. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock

by Damian Carrington Environment editor

 

 

Record-breaking extreme weather is the new norm in the UK, scientists have said, showing that the country is firmly in the grip of the climate crisis.

The hottest days people endure have dramatically increased in frequency and severity, and periods of intense rain have also ramped up, data from hundreds of weather stations shows. Heatwaves and floods leading to deaths and costly damage are of “profound concern” for health, infrastructure and the functioning of society, the scientists said.

The weather records clearly show the UK’s climate is different now compared with just a few decades ago, the scientists said, as a result of the carbon pollution emitted by burning fossil fuels.

The analysis found that the number of days with temperatures 5C above the average for 1961-1990 had doubled in the last 10 years. For days 8C above average, the number has trebled and for 10C above average it has quadrupled. The UK has also become 8% sunnier in the last decade.

The assessment also reported that rain had become more intense. The number of months where counties receive at least double the average rainfall has risen by 50% in the last 20 years. Much of the additional rain is falling in the months from October to March. That period in 2023-24 was the wettest ever, in records that span back to 1767, and resulted in flooding in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and elsewhere.

The sea level around the UK is rising faster than the global average, the report said, which worsens the impact of coastal flooding.

Six hundred people are believed to have died due to the heatwave that hit England and Wales at the end of June. The soaring temperatures were made 100 times more likely by global heating, the scientists calculated. Two more heatwaves have followed in quick succession.

The government’s preparations to protect people from the escalating impacts of the climate crisis were condemned as “inadequate, piecemeal and disjointed” by official advisers in April.

Mike Kendon at the Met Office, who led the analysis, said: “Breaking records frequently and seeing these extremes, this is now the norm. We might not notice the change from one year to the next, but if we look back 10 years, or 30 years, we can see some really big changes. We’re moving outside the envelope of what we’ve known in the past.”

“The extremes have the greatest impact for our society, if we think about our infrastructure, our public health, and how we function,” he said. “So this is really of profound concern.”

The assessment, called the State of the UK Climate 2024 and published in the International Journal of Climatology, found the last three years were in the UK’s top five hottest years on record. The warmest spring on record was seen in 2024 although this has already been surpassed in 2025.

The UK has particularly long meteorological records and the Central England Temperature series is the longest instrumental record in the world. It shows that recent temperatures have far exceeded any in at least 300 years. However, today’s high temperatures are likely to be average by 2050, and cool by 2100, the scientists said.

Sea level around the UK has already risen by 19cm over the last century, as glaciers and ice sheets melt and the oceans absorb heat and expand. The rise is accelerating and is higher around the UK than globally, although scientists are yet to work out why. It could rise by up to 200cm by the end of the century, said Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, at the National Oceanography Centre.

Storm winds can push seawater surges on to coasts and are most dangerous when they coincide with the highest tides. “The extra sea level rise [due to global heating] is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards,” said Jevrejeva. “It is only a matter of time until the UK is next in the path of a major storm surge event.”

While heat records are increasingly being broken, cold weather events are becoming less common. For example, days with air frosts have fallen by 14 per year in the last decade, compared with the 1931-1990 average.

The UK’s changed climate has also affected nature, the report said. The earliest ever frogspawn and blackbird nesting was seen in 2024, in records that began in 1999. All but one of the 13 natural events monitored were earlier than average in 2024, from the first lesser celandine flower to the first elder leaves. The changes mean species that depend on others, such as for food or pollination, risk getting out of sync, said Dr Judith Garforth at the Woodland Trust.

Prof Liz Bentley, at the Royal Meteorological Society, said the report showed the urgent need to make the UK resilient to climate-fuelled extreme weather: “This report is not just a record of change, but a call to action.”

Deadly weekend heat in England ‘100 times more likely’ due to climate crisis. High temperatures likely to cause deaths and will worsen in future as global heating intensifies, scientists warn

Researchers say the 32C expected this weekend in the south-east would have been expected only once every 2,500 years without the climate crisis. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

 Damian Carrington

The dangerous 32C heat that will be endured by people in the south-east of England on Saturday will have been made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis, scientists have calculated.

Global heating, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is making every heatwave more likely and more intense. The 32C (89.6F) day forecast on Saturday would have been expected only once every 2,500 years without the climate crisis, the researchers said, and June heatwaves are now about 2-4C (3.6-7.2F) hotter than in the past.

 

The heat is expected to cause premature deaths, particularly among older and vulnerable people. More than 10,000 people died before their time in summer heatwaves between 2020 and 2024, according to the UK Health Security Agency, and the UK government has been heavily criticised for failing to properly prepare people for extreme weather.

Prolonged heat is especially dangerous as it gives no time for people’s bodies to cool off. Maximum temperatures in the south-east are expected to be above 28C for three consecutive days. The scientists said this heatwave was made 10 times more likely by the climate crisis.

Dr Ben Clarke at Imperial College London, who was part of the research team, said the culprit for the extreme heat was clear. “This weather just wouldn’t have been a heatwave without human-induced warming,” he said.

Climate breakdown drove the annual global temperature in 2024 to a new record and carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil and gas are still rising. If that continues for just two more years, passing the internationally agreed limit of 1.5C above preindustrial levels will be inevitable, intensifying the extreme weather already taking lives in the UK and across the globe.

Clarke said: “With every fraction of a degree of warming, the UK will experience hotter, more dangerous heatwaves. That means more heat deaths, more pressure on the NHS, more transport disruptions, and tougher work conditions. The best way to avoid a future of relentless heat is by shifting to renewable energy.”

Dr Friederike Otto, also at Imperial College London, said: “It is really important to highlight this early summer heatwave because the impacts of heat are still severely underestimated, and the UK is not prepared for this type of weather.” The Climate Change Committee, the government’s official advisers, said in April that the UK’s preparations for adapting to a changing climate were “inadequate, piecemeal and disjointed”.

Otto said: “Heatwaves are called the silent killer, because we don’t see people dropping dead on the street, but killers they are. In Europe in 2022, more than 60,000 people died in the summer from extreme heat.”

Maja Vahlberg at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre said: “Sadly most people die from heat indoors and alone, especially older people and those with underlying health conditions, such as lung or heart disease.”

Prof Mike Tipton, a physiologist at Portsmouth University, said: “The human body is not designed to tolerate prolonged exposure to this sort of extreme heat. It is undeniable that climate change is now costing British lives. Those politicians and commentators who pour scorn on climate action should reflect on this fact because, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases, these episodes are only likely to become more extreme.”

The extremely dry spring, combined with soaring temperatures, means the UK is also facing a high risk of wildfires, said Theodore Keeping, also at Imperial College London: “We’ve already seen the highest burnt area on record in the UK this year.” People should take extreme care with fires, barbecues and cigarettes, he said.

 

The rapid study of the role of global heating in the predicted weekend heatwave compared the likelihood of the high temperatures in today’s hotter climate with that in the cooler preindustrial period. The team, part of the World Weather Attribution group, was also able to reuse detailed climate modelling undertaken for a similar heatwave in 2022, speeding up their conclusions.

They said older people were at greatest risk from the high temperatures, but that others with existing vulnerabilities could also be affected, with the effectiveness of some medications being changed by the heat or affecting people’s ability to cool down.

Sweating is how the body cools so it is vital to drink plenty of water, the researchers said. Closing windows and curtains during the day and opening them in the cool of the night can help keep temperatures in homes down, they said. A recent study estimated that 80% of UK homes overheat in the summer.

Temperatures in the UK rose above 40C for the first time in 2022. The Met Office said on Wednesday that the UK had a 50/50 chance of temperatures soaring to 40C again in the next 12 years as the climate crisis worsens and that 45C could not be ruled out.

Extreme heat is more deadly than floods, earthquakes and hurricanes combined, according to a report by the insurance giant Swiss Re published on 12 June. “Up to half a million people globally succumb to the effects of extreme heat each year,” it said.

“Extreme heat used to be considered the ‘invisible peril’ because the impacts are not as obvious as of other natural perils,” said Jérôme Haegeli, chief economist at Swiss Re. “With a clear trend to longer, hotter heatwaves, it is important we shine a light on the true cost to human life, our economy, infrastructure, agriculture and healthcare.”

 

 

Today’s newsletter focuses on Britain’s hot, stinking water mess — from water shortages to sewage problems.

 

The bed of Woodhead Reservoir partially revealed by a falling water level, near Glossop, northern England in May. Photographer: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

 

The messy details

By Joe Wertz and Priscila Azevedo Rocha While England is often associated with rain, the country has managed to end up with short supply of water thanks in part to climate change. The problem was on full display this week: Reservoir levels across England fell far below the norm during the driest spring in more than a century. Reservoirs were 77% full at the end of May compared with the long-term average of 93%, the UK’s Environment Agency said. This spring was the UK’s sunniest and warmest on record, and England’s driest March-May period since 1893, the agency said. While wetter conditions have since provided some relief, it’s unlikely to plug the deficit as extreme heat and more dry weather looms.

The hot, dry spring has been fueled by an unusual rise in high-pressure patterns that scientists say have amplified long-term global warming. The news comes at time when water mismanagement was already grabbing headlines across Britain.  Things have been particularly bad at Thames Water, which supplies about a quarter of the UK population, and has been on a long downward financial slope. It came close to running out of money several times before finally unlocking an emergency loan in March. There was hope for a turnaround when alternative asset manager KKR & Co. made a bid to invest £4 billion ($5.4 billion) in Thames Water earlier this year. Only this week the US infrastructure giant realized there was little upside to a deal and withdrew its offer, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Read More: KKR Quit Thames Bid After It Saw Little Upside to a Rescue The crisis follows decades of poor regulatory oversight that allowed water company owners to pay themselves billions of pounds in dividends instead of using the money to maintain the infrastructure.  Meanwhile, regulator Ofwat flexed new powers today when it banned six water companies from paying bonuses to senior executives who haven’t done enough to tackle pollution.   Water companies are facing widespread public anger over sewage leaks into rivers and lakes throughout Britain. Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images   Ofwat’s authority to stop “unjustified” payments for poor environmental and customer performance is part of new legislation that comes into come into force today. Bosses at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, Wessex Water, United Utilities and Southern Water are not permitted to receive bonuses with immediate effect, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.  Stopping bonuses is meant to address the public perception that company bosses are rewarded even if a firm is pumping waste into waterways illegally. Public anger has been further fueled by bill increases of as much as 47% in April while water companies have awarded over £112 million in bonuses and incentives over the last decade, according to government figures. --With assistance from Claire Ruckin and Giulia Morpurgo

Com fechamento de última usina, Reino Unido se torna primeiro país do G7 a abrir mão do carvão

 

Usina termelétrica a carvão de Ratcliffe-on-Soar, na Inglaterra - Molly Darlington - 26.set.2024/Reuters

 

O mais poluente dos combustíveis fósseis, carvão deixará de gerar eletricidade no país após mais de 140 anos 

 

Susanna Twidale

Reuters

Com o fechamento da usina Ratcliffe-on-Soar nesta segunda-feira (30), o Reino Unido se tornará o primeiro país do G7, grupo que reúne as nações mais desenvolvidas do mundo, a abrir mão da produção de energia a carvão.

O momento encerra mais de 140 anos do mais poluente entre os combustíveis fósseis para o fornecimento de eletricidade no país, que foi o berço da Revolução Industrial —considerada um marco no aumento de emissões de gases de efeito estufa pelas atividades humanas.

 

Em 2015, o Reino Unido anunciou planos para fechar usinas a carvão dentro da década seguinte como parte de medidas mais amplas para atingir suas metas climáticas. Naquela época, quase 30% da eletricidade do país vinha do carvão, mas isso caiu para pouco mais de 1% no ano passado.

"O Reino Unido provou que é possível eliminar a energia a carvão em uma velocidade sem precedentes", disse Julia Skorupska, chefe do secretariado da Aliança Powering Past Coal, um grupo de cerca de 60 governos nacionais que buscam acabar com essa fonte de energia.

Os cortes no carvão ajudaram a reduzir as emissões de gases de efeito estufa do Reino Unido, que caíram a mais da metade desde 1990.

 

O Reino Unido, que tem como meta atingir emissões líquidas zero até 2050, também planeja descarbonizar o restante do setor de eletricidade até 2030, o que exigirá um rápido aumento na energia renovável, como eólica e solar.

"A era do carvão pode estar acabando, mas uma nova era de bons empregos na área de energia para nosso país está apenas começando", disse o ministro da energia, Michael Shanks, em comunicado.

 

As emissões provenientes da energia representam cerca de 75% das emissões totais de gases de efeito estufa e cientistas afirmam que o uso de combustíveis fósseis deve ser reduzido para atingir as metas estabelecidas no Acordo de Paris.

Em abril, os principais países industrializados do G7 concordaram em eliminar a energia a carvão na primeira metade da próxima década, mas também deram alguma flexibilidade para economias fortemente dependentes do carvão, o que gerou críticas de grupos ambientais.

"Ainda há muito trabalho a ser feito para garantir que a meta de 2035 seja atingida e antecipada para 2030, especialmente no Japão, nos EUA e na Alemanha", afirmou Christine Shearer, analista de pesquisa do Global Energy Monitor.

A energia a carvão ainda representa mais de 25% da eletricidade na Alemanha e mais de 30% da energia no Japão.

                                         Pequim - China

No ano passado, o consumo de carvão no mundo chegou a um recorde, com 8,53 bilhões de toneladas queimadas, segundo a Agência Internacional de Energia.

A entidade ressaltou que em 2023 houve crescimento do consumo na China, com aumento de 220 milhões de toneladas (4,9%) na comparação com 2022, e na Índia, com avanço de 98 milhões de toneladas (8%). Também foram queimadas 23 milhões de toneladas a mais na Indonésia, o que representou um aumento de 11%, segundo o órgão.

 

 

Biomass power station produced four times emissions of UK coal plant, says report

 

Drax was responsible for 11.5m tonnes of CO2 last year, or nearly 3% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

 Drax received £22bn in subsidies despite being UK’s largest emitter in 2023, though company rejects ‘flawed’ research

 

The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.

The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember.

The figures show that Drax, which has received billions in subsidies since it began switching from coal to biomass in 2012, was responsible for 11.5m tonnes of CO₂ last year, or nearly 3% of the UK’s total carbon emissions.

Drax produced four times more carbon dioxide than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, which is due to close in September. Drax also produced more emissions last year than the next four most polluting power plants in the UK combined, according to the report.

Frankie Mayo, an analyst at Ember, said: “Burning wood pellets can be as bad for the environment as coal; supporting biomass with subsidies is a costly mistake.”

The company has claimed almost £7bn from British energy bills to support its biomass generation since 2012, even though burning wood pellets for power generation releases more emissions for each unit of electricity generated than burning gas or coal, according to Ember and many scientists. In 2023, the period covered by the Ember report, it received £539m.

 The government is considering the company’s request for billpayers to foot the cost of supporting its power plant beyond the subsidy scheme’s deadline in 2027 so it can keep burning wood for power until the end of the decade.

 

Drax has won the support of the government thanks to claims that its generation is “carbon neutral” because the trees that are felled to produce its wood pellets absorb as much carbon dioxide while they grow as they emit when they are burned in its power plant.

The company plans to fit carbon-capture technology at Drax using more subsidies, to create a “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage” (BECCS) project and become the first “carbon-negative” power plant in the world by the end of the decade.

A spokesperson for the company dismissed the thinktank’s findings as “flawed” and accused its authors of ignoring its “widely accepted and internationally recognised approach to carbon accounting”.

“The technology that underpins BECCS is proven, and it is the only credible large-scale way of generating secure renewable power and delivering carbon removals,” the spokesperson added.

A government spokesperson said the report “fundamentally misrepresents” how biomass emissions are measured.

“The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change is clear that biomass sourced in line with strict sustainability criteria can be used as a low-carbon source of energy. We will continue to monitor biomass electricity generation to ensure it meets required standards,” the spokesman said.

Climate authorities, including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UK’s Climate Change Committee, which provides official advice to ministers, have included BECCS in their long-term forecasts for how governments can meet their climate targets.

The government’s own spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has warned that ministers have handed a total of £22bn in billpayer-backed subsidies to burn wood for electricity despite being unable to prove the industry meets sustainability standards.

Mayo said: “Burning wood for power is an expensive risk that limits UK energy independence and has no place in the journey to net zero. True energy security comes from homegrown wind and solar, a healthy grid and robust planning for how to make the power system flexible and efficient.”

The FTSE 100 owner of the Drax power plant made profits of £500m over the first half of this year, helped by biomass subsidies of almost £400m over this period. It handed its shareholders a windfall of £300m for the first half of the year.

 

 

UK homes install ‘record number’ of solar panels and heat pumps

TheGuardian - Head of industry standards body says more people are turning to renewable technology as energy costs grow

 Solar panels on a narrowboat in Henley-on-Thames. An average of 20,000 households installed solar panels every month this year. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock

 

British households are making more green energy upgrades than ever before after installing a record number of solar panels and heat pumps in the first half of the year, according to the industry’s official standards body.

The industry figures show there were more green energy installations in June alone than in any six-month period in previous years.

On average, more than 20,000 households installed solar panels every month this year, while the number of homes installing heat pumps reached 3,000 a month for the first time, according to the data.

Each month of 2023 was a record month for battery technologies, as installation figures consistently surpassed the month before, bringing the total number of batteries installed in homes and businesses across the UK to more than 1,000 in 2023 so far.

The industry’s accreditation body, MCS, said the green energy boom has put households on track to install more renewable energy than the last record set in 2012, when many raced to install solar panels before government subsidies were reduced.

Ian Rippin, the chief executive of MCS, said: “As the cost of energy continues to grow, we are seeing more people turn to renewable technology to generate their own energy and heat at home.”

Small-scale renewable energy installations at homes and businesses across the UK now have a total capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW), greater than the nuclear power plant under construction at Hinkley Point and almost double the capacity of Europe’s biggest gas power plant near Pembroke in Wales.

“We need to continue to push this expansion to meet our shared national ambitions to reach net zero by 2050. More consumers have the confidence to invest in small-scale renewables now than ever, but we have to make that transition even easier,” Rippin said.

The UK government has set targets to reach 70GW of solar capacity by 2035 and to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. But the uptake of heat pumps has fallen far short of the government’s aim, despite £5,000 grants to reduce the cost of replacing an old gas boiler.

In total there were 17,920 heat pump installations in the first six months of 2023, according to MCS data, meaning that if the same pace continued over the second half of the year, heat pump installations would reach just 6% of the government’s target.

Bean Beanland, the director of external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, said there was “a tremendous job of work to do” to ensure that heat pump technology becomes mainstream over the remainder of this decade.

The accreditation body believes that one of the biggest barriers to the government’s heat pump ambitions is the need to recruit enough qualified, skilled installers to meet the demand for trustworthy advice and installations.

There are 1,500 heat pump installation companies certified in the UK, but an estimated 50,000 workers will be needed to meet government targets. So far this year, more than 850 new contractors have become MCS certified, more than the number who signed up during the whole of 2022.

Beanland added: “It is essential that the lowest-carbon heat becomes the lowest-cost heat, so that homeowners and landlords can justify the transition away from polluting fossil fuels. If this is coupled to a genuine affordability and future funding package, then households will be able to contribute to climate change mitigation with confidence and at a cost that is fair to all.”

 

Nytimes link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/12/climate/wind-solar-clean-energy.html