TY - JOUR
T1 - Heatwaves
T2 - An invisible risk in UK policy and research
AU - Brimicombe, Chloe
AU - Porter, James J.
AU - Di Napoli, Claudia
AU - Pappenberger, Florian
AU - Cornforth, Rosalind
AU - Petty, Celia
AU - Cloke, Hannah L.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - In 2019, a heatwave – an unusual extended period of hot weather – broke the UK's highest recorded temperature of 38.7 °C set in 2003. Of concern is that for summer 2019, this resulted in 892 excess deaths. With the intensity and frequency of UK heatwaves projected to increase, and summer temperatures predicted to be 5 °C hotter by 2070, urgent action is needed to prepare for, and adapt to, the changes now and to come. Yet it remains unclear what actions are needed and by whom. In response, a systematic literature review of UK heatwaves peer-reviewed publications, inclusive of keyword criteria (total papers returned = 183), was conducted to understand what lessons have been learnt and what needs to happen next. Our research shows that heatwaves remain largely an invisible risk in the UK. Communication over what UK residents should do, the support needed to make changes, and their capacity to enact those changes, is often lacking. In turn, there is an inherent bias where research focuses too narrowly on the health and building sectors over other critical sectors, such as agriculture. An increased amount of action and leadership is therefore necessary from the UK government to address this.
AB - In 2019, a heatwave – an unusual extended period of hot weather – broke the UK's highest recorded temperature of 38.7 °C set in 2003. Of concern is that for summer 2019, this resulted in 892 excess deaths. With the intensity and frequency of UK heatwaves projected to increase, and summer temperatures predicted to be 5 °C hotter by 2070, urgent action is needed to prepare for, and adapt to, the changes now and to come. Yet it remains unclear what actions are needed and by whom. In response, a systematic literature review of UK heatwaves peer-reviewed publications, inclusive of keyword criteria (total papers returned = 183), was conducted to understand what lessons have been learnt and what needs to happen next. Our research shows that heatwaves remain largely an invisible risk in the UK. Communication over what UK residents should do, the support needed to make changes, and their capacity to enact those changes, is often lacking. In turn, there is an inherent bias where research focuses too narrowly on the health and building sectors over other critical sectors, such as agriculture. An increased amount of action and leadership is therefore necessary from the UK government to address this.
KW - Building
KW - Health
KW - Heatwave
KW - Policy
KW - Risk
KW - UK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096204255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.10.021
DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.10.021
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85096204255
SN - 1462-9011
VL - 116
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Environmental science & policy
JF - Environmental science & policy
ER -