England's hottest June on record may have cost the UK more than $1.3 billion

Record June heat in England came with a major financial cost.

Researchers estimate that a single week of unusually high temperatures cut more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) from the U.K.'s economic output, highlighting how extreme heat can disrupt work, businesses, and everyday routines.

What happened?

Researchers at the Grantham Research Institute and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change estimated that the U.K. heat wave spanning from June 18 to July 1 reduced output by about £1.15 billion ($1.5 billion) in one week, Time reported.

That period also brought England its hottest June on record. According to Time, temperatures frequently rose above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. A provisional high of 37.7 degrees Celsius (99.86 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded in Norfolk on June 26, setting a new national record for June daily maximum temperature in the country.

Elizabeth Robinson, director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Shouro Dasgupta, environmental economist at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change and visiting senior fellow at the Grantham Research Institute, surveyed 1,950 U.K. adults to assess how the heat affected their work, health, sleep, commute, and work environment.

Participants said they lost an average of 0.47 work hours over the course of the week. Extrapolated across the U.K.'s 34.4 million workers, that amounts to about 16 million hours of lost labor.

A separate finding showed that 3.6% of respondents did not work at all during that week because of the heat. According to Time, that is roughly equal to 1.25 million workers nationwide.

Why does it matter?

Extreme heat is not just a weather story. It is also an economic and public health problem. Time reported delays on trains and closures at some shops, offices, and schools, while outdoor and physically demanding work such as construction and agriculture was especially affected.

Worsening extreme weather disasters threaten lives and livelihoods by increasing the risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration, poor sleep, and other health problems. They also make it harder for people to travel safely, work full hours, and keep businesses operating normally.

When communities face repeated shutdowns, lost wages, strained services, and reduced productivity, those effects can ripple through local economies and household budgets.

The U.K. faces added risk because, as Time noted, much of its housing stock was built for a cooler climate. As summers continue to grow hotter each year, that can leave homes, schools, and workplaces dangerously warm, especially for older adults, children, and people without access to cooling.

What's being done?

According to Time, 49% of workers said they had access to air conditioning, and 27% said their employers had taken steps to cool workplaces, including increasing ventilation, installing AC, or providing shade.

Robinson said those efforts are already making a measurable difference. "We've got very clear evidence that adaptation measures do successfully reduce how many hours are lost to heat, and adaptation measures do successfully protect workers' health to some extent," she said.

Still, the researchers argued that voluntary changes will likely not be enough as heat waves become more frequent and intense, affecting communities around the world.

Dasgupta said governments should consider protections such as heat limits, required rest periods, and extra hydration breaks for workers exposed to dangerous heat.

"We are woefully under-adapted to the changing climate," Robinson said.

"The effects are right now too significant for this to be left alone," Dasgupta added.

Home upgrades such as energy-efficient windows, smart thermostats, and heat pumps can help people stay safe during hotter weather.

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