London unprepared for climate change impacts, says interim review

London is not prepared to deal with the increasingly extreme weather that climate change is set to bring, according to an interim report commissioned by the capital’s Mayor.

Heatwaves, fires, intense downpours, flash flooding and sea level rise will bring heightened risks to people’s health, homes and businesses without adequate adaptation, it said.

Climate change has already started to impact the millions of residents in London and across the UK, with some further warming locked in even if greenhouse gas emissions fell to zero overnight.

Headed by the ex-chair of the Environment Agency Emma Howard Boyd, the review’s authors spoke to the NHS, TfL, London Fire Brigade, the Met Police, councillors, politicians and NGOs as well as representatives for vulnerable groups, sports and cultural institutions and the financial services sector.

They found there to be a “lethal risk” to Londoners, especially lower-income households and those with medical conditions, with central Government lacking a strategy on how to adapt society to head off the coming threats.

In 2022, the capital saw 40C for the first time, with hundreds dying due to the heat throughout the summer, while operations at Guy’s at St Thomas’ hospitals were cancelled because of IT systems breaking down.

Unprecedented destruction from grassfires left nearly 20 homes in ruins on the nation’s hottest day on record, when London Fire Brigade had more calls than at any other time since the Second World War.

Water consumption rose by 50% during the record heat according to Thames Water, while their reservoirs were at their lowest for 30 years.

Demand for water, especially in the south-east, is expected to outstrip supply within the next 15 years without radical action and the review said the cost to London could be as much £500 million each day.

It’s time for the UK, led by its cities and regions, to take action and prioritise adaptation

Ms Boyd said: “London has many good plans and programmes to prepare for climate hazards but we need to recognise that Londoners now face lethal risks, and a step change is needed.

“In the absence of national leadership, regional government has a more significant role to play. We need pace not perfection.

“It’s time for the UK, led by its cities and regions, to take action and prioritise adaptation.

“That is an opportunity to make the UK economy more climate resilient, to protect the most vulnerable, to preserve all that we love about London and to show leadership to other cities nationally and globally.”

Recommendations include having multi-agency exercises to test the city’s preparedness for extreme heat, improving houses to protect them against extreme heat and flooding, providing more money and power to local councils, raising flood defences to the west of the Thames Barrier before 2050, and building more sustainable drainage systems to alleviate flash flooding.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I welcome these recommendations and have proposed in my latest Budget an additional £3 million to accelerate climate adaptation work in London.

“We will be looking at how we can take forward the recommendations identified so far and urging others, especially Government, to do the same.

“I can also confirm today that the London Resilience Partnership will carry out an exercise later this year to test London’s preparedness for a severe heat episode and that my green finance programme will begin work to consider how adaptation finance, including nature-based solutions, can be accelerated in early 2024.”

The Government has been contacted for comment.