Climate change is estimated to be responsible for 42 per cent of the deaths across both heatwaves, researchers find
By
More than 2,700 people are thought to have died from heat-related causes in the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales, new research from Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found. Of these deaths, around 42 per cent were caused by extra heat attributed to human-induced climate change.
Approximately 550 people are estimated to have died due to heat-related causes during the May heatwave (21–29 May 2026) and about 2,200 during the June heatwave (18–28 June 2026) in England and Wales.
May temperatures hit a peak of 35.1°C at Kew Gardens on 26 May – far higher than the previous record of 32.8C set back in 1922. In June, temperatures reached a high of 37.7°C at Lingwood, Norfolk.
Related reads…
‘These are big numbers, and we don’t want to see this many people dying,’ said lead author Dr Clair Barnes. ‘We’ve reached the point where the heat is so extreme that we can’t help but acknowledge the impacts it has.’
In comparison, around four people die every day from road traffic collisions, and 35 a day due to alcohol and drug use.
Researchers attributed around 59 per cent of deaths in May and 38 per cent in June to additional heat from human-caused climate change.
They stress that daytime maximum temperatures across England and Wales are now 3-4°C hotter than they would have been without human-induced climate change, further raising risks associated with heatwaves.
In addition, estimates suggest that the death rate (per million population) was similar in the Midlands to the south, where temperatures were at their hottest. As such, it suggests heatwave risks may shift northwards across time.
Previously, the UKHSA found that more than 10,000 people died in Britain because of summer heatwaves between 2020 and 2024. This year, both heatwaves were caused by a heat dome – when a stalled area of high pressure traps hot air over a region.
‘Hopefully, just the sheer size of the numbers is really illustrating to people that this is something we need to be worrying about and preparing for,’ said Barnes. ‘We can stop making it worse by transitioning towards net zero, because that is not a political target; it’s a physics-based target. If we stop adding greenhouse gases, we stop adding warming, and we stop making these heatwaves worse.’
