Extreme Heat is a Wake-up Call
This isn't "just summer" - it's Climate Change
37.7C - the hottest June day ever recorded.
A record six days above 35°C by mid-July.
Droughts threatening our food security.
Wildfires endangering plant, animal and human life.
An estimated 2,700 excess deaths in May and June alone.
This summer is an urgent wakeup call - this is becoming a norm, not the exception.
Climate change is not a distant threat - it is here, today, and Britain is dangerously unprepared.
That’s why we’re calling on the Government to publish an emergency heat plan to address this as an issue of national security.
This must include investment for cooling hospitals, care homes and schools, where people are most vulnerable to excess heat, upgrading and insulating homes so they’re cooler in summer, as well as warmer in winter, and increasing green space and planting more trees to cool urban areas.
We’re also calling for air-conditioned community spaces, like leisure centres and libraries, to be open to the public as ‘cool hubs’ for people to seek refuge during heatwaves.
Pippa Heylings MP, Lib Dem spokesperson for Energy and Net Zero spoke about this in Parliament on July 14th.
But it’s not enough to simply adapt to the impacts of climate change we are already seeing. Because if we don’t tackle the causes of climate change, we’ll see even higher temperatures in the future, with even more devastating consequences.
Only a few years ago, there was broad cross-party consensus backing Net Zero. Now, chasing the tail of Reform UK, the Conservatives say they would scrap it.
But the Liberal Democrats have been leading the way, pushing the Labour Government to stay the course.
Earlier this year, Max Wilkinson MP successfully secured changes in law so solar panels will become standard on new homes.
And, while the Conservatives and Reform wrongly blame high energy prices on renewables, our plans to break the link between the cost of electricity and expensive gas, the real cause, were adopted by the Government in April, lowering energy bills.
Families up and down the country are worried about what climate change means for their lives and their communities but time and again Ministers have failed to deliver the policies that would help meet this challenge head on.
Only the Liberal Democrats are pushing for the bold action needed to tackle climate change, protect our environment, and keep people safe.
You can read more about our policies in our Climate Policy paper, ‘For People, For Planet’, passed at last year’s Autumn Conference, here: