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Deaths from heat could triple over the next few decades without government action on the planet’s overheating, climate change experts warn.
The alert comes at the time of the UK’s first extreme heat warning, with life-threatening record highs of around 40C expected as far north as York, according to BBC.
An estimated 4.6 million homes are overheating, according to a recent survey, and that’s just in England.
“We’ve been telling the government for more than 10 years that we are completely unprepared in Britain for the really hot weather we’re experiencing now.” Baroness Brown, deputy chair of the Climate Change Committee, told the BBC.
The Committee on Climate Change says more than half a million new homes at risk of overheating have been built in the UK since it first raised the issue almost a decade ago.
While the Met Office classifies heatwaves as “extreme weather events”, scientific research shows that climate change is making them more common.
Heatwaves caused another 2,000 deaths in 2020, according to the UK Health Safety Agency.
The true extent of the health risk posed by overheated homes in Britain is difficult to assess.
Heat stress worsens diseases such as asthma, heart disease and mental illness.
Symptoms of heatstroke – including confusion, cramps and fatigue – can be difficult to distinguish from other medical conditions, including Covid-19.
As a result, heat is not always cited as a factor in the cause of death, making it difficult for doctors and medical professionals to assess how big a health risk it really is.
Baroness Brown says it will take years for rules on overheating in new homes to have an impact and that the Government must act urgently to reduce the risk in millions of existing homes.
Repairing homes to reduce overheating can be very expensive, warns Professor Kevin Lomas of Loughborough University, who has spent more than two decades studying overheating in British homes.
He says many homes will need new windows or air conditioning.
But he also says simple measures can provide immediate relief, such as electric coolers or closing windows and curtains during the heat of the day and then opening them at night to let in cooler air.
Every heat wave we experience today has been made hotter because of the fossil fuels we’ve been using, experts say.
The hottest day of the year is, on average, now nearly 1 degree Celsius warmer than in the 1970s, says Dr. Vikki Thompson, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol’s Cabot Institute for the Environment.
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