The Heatwave Has a Bill. Who’s Paying Yours?

Hot Weather Is No Longer a Surprise. Being Unprepared Is a Choice.

This summer told us something we can no longer ignore. Three official heatwaves before August. Temperatures peaking at 37.7°C in June. Trains slowing to a crawl on buckling rails, schools closing their doors, and offices, warehouses and workshops across the country quietly grinding to a halt in the afternoon heat. For years, climate change has been discussed as a future risk, something to plan for on a 2050 horizon. This summer, it arrived on the payroll.

The numbers are striking. Researchers at the Grantham Research Institute estimate that the June heatwave alone cost the UK economy more than £1 billion in lost productivity, with some 24 million working hours lost in a single week. Other analysts put the true figure even higher once overheating equipment, disrupted logistics and infrastructure failures are counted. And this was not a freak event. The Office for National Statistics estimates hot days already cost the UK economy over £1 billion in lost productivity in a typical year, and the science is clear that heatwaves will arrive more often, last longer, and bite harder.

Here is the uncomfortable truth for many organisations. You can have an ambitious net zero target, a credible reduction plan and a certified carbon footprint, and still be caught completely unprepared when the temperature hits 35°C. Mitigation, cutting the emissions that drive climate change, remains essential. But adaptation, preparing your people, premises and operations for the climate we already have, has become just as important. The two are not competitors. They are two halves of the same strategy.

The good news is that the businesses treating resilience seriously are discovering the same thing early movers on carbon measurement discovered: what looks like a cost is often an opportunity. Understanding where heat hurts your business reveals inefficient buildings, energy waste, fragile supply routes and single points of failure that were always there, hiding in plain sight. The heat is on. The question is whether your business is ready for it.

Why Investing in Resilience Pays Off

When the temperature climbs, most organisations improvise. Fans are bought in a panic, start times shift, deliveries slip, and everyone hopes the weather breaks soon. Improvisation gets you through a bad week, but it is expensive, stressful, and it leaves value on the table. Businesses that plan for heat, rather than react to it, consistently come out ahead, and the advantages compound in ways that reach well beyond a few uncomfortable afternoons.

The first advantage is financial. Productivity research shows output begins to fall noticeably once workplace temperatures pass around 30°C, as concentration drops, fatigue rises and manual work slows. A business that has assessed its buildings, improved ventilation and insulation, and invested in efficient cooling keeps working while competitors send staff home. Crucially, the cheapest way to cool a building is to stop it overheating in the first place: better insulation, shading, and smarter building management cut summer cooling bills and winter heating bills alike, which means many resilience measures pay for themselves in energy savings. And because inefficient cooling is also carbon-intensive cooling, adaptation done well reinforces your reduction plan rather than undermining it.

The second advantage is continuity. Heat does not just affect your own site. It slows transport networks, stresses supplier operations, and strains the grid your business depends on. Organisations that have mapped their value chain for carbon already hold most of the information needed to map it for climate risk: the two exercises use the same visibility. Knowing which suppliers, routes and assets are exposed lets you build in alternatives before disruption hits, and increasingly it is what insurers, lenders and major customers want to see. Climate resilience is becoming a procurement question, just as carbon performance did before it.

The third advantage is people. Employees remember how they were treated during the difficult weeks. Clear hot-weather policies, flexible working, and a demonstrably safe environment protect health, morale and retention, and with pressure growing for maximum workplace temperature rules in the UK, businesses that act now will be ahead of regulation rather than chasing it. In a warming climate, being a resilient employer is fast becoming part of being a responsible one.

For years, we have sat across the table from business leaders and talked about climate change as a carbon problem. Measure your footprint, reduce your emissions, work towards net zero. That work matters as much as it ever did. But this summer forced a second conversation into the room, and at NCZ we think it is time to have it honestly.

The June heatwave cost the UK economy more than £1 billion in lost productivity in a single week. Around 24 million working hours evaporated as offices overheated, trains slowed, and staff who could not work safely simply could not work. Temperatures peaked at 37.7°C, and we have already seen three official heatwaves this year. Whatever your view on climate targets, that is not a projection or a scenario. That is a line item, and it landed on UK businesses this summer whether they had planned for it or not.

Our perspective is simple: mitigation and adaptation are not two agendas, they are one. We hear the concern from clients that resilience spending competes with net zero spending, that every pound put into cooling is a pound not put into reduction. We think that framing is wrong, and this summer proved it. The building that overheats fastest is almost always the building wasting the most energy. The supply route most exposed to heat disruption is usually the one you identified when you mapped your Scope 3 emissions. The data that gives you a credible carbon footprint, your energy use, your buildings, your transport, your suppliers, is precisely the data that tells you where extreme heat will hurt you first. Businesses do not need a separate climate resilience programme starting from zero. They need to ask new questions of information many of them already hold.

There is also a hierarchy worth defending. The wrong response to a hotter Britain is to bolt inefficient air conditioning onto leaky buildings and absorb the electricity bill, trading a productivity problem for a cost and carbon problem. The right response starts with the fabric: insulation, shading, ventilation, smarter building controls. These measures cool you in July, warm you in January, cut your bills all year, and shrink your footprint at the same time. They are the rare investments that serve both halves of the climate challenge at once. Where active cooling is genuinely needed, it should be efficient, well maintained, and paired with the reductions that offset its demand. Adaptation done properly accelerates net zero. Adaptation done badly undermines it.

We also want to be straight about where this is heading. Pressure is building for maximum workplace temperature rules in the UK. Insurers are looking harder at climate exposure. Procurement teams that learned to ask suppliers for carbon data will learn just as quickly to ask about continuity in extreme weather. We watched this pattern play out with carbon reporting: what begins as a voluntary question becomes a contractual one, and the businesses that prepared early clear the bar while the rest scramble. Resilience is on the same path, and this summer moved it forward by years.

So our message to UK businesses is not alarm, it is opportunity. Every heatwave is a free audit. It shows you exactly which sites, systems and suppliers fail first, and this summer has just handed you the results. The businesses that treat that information seriously, that put it alongside their carbon data and act on both together, will spend less, lose fewer hours, keep their people safer, and hold a story that clients, investors and insurers increasingly want to hear.

At NCZ, we help businesses measure what matters and prove what they have achieved. This summer widened what matters. The climate we are working to protect is also the climate we are already living in, and a credible sustainability strategy now has to answer for both. The heat is not waiting for 2050. Neither should your plan.

One Client Question, One Smart Answer: How Accent Services Turned Sustainability into Growth

In a summer when the whole country has been thinking about keeping cool, who better to celebrate than a business that keeps Britain’s buildings comfortable for a living? Accent Services, a national air conditioning and mechanical services company based in Shepperton, has become a shining example of what happens when a business embraces sustainability with open arms. When its biggest client invited Accent to start measuring its carbon emissions, the team spotted a golden opportunity, and they have been running with it ever since.

What makes the Accent story such a joy to share is the clarity of the choices behind it. Rather than juggling a long list of different accreditations, Accent listened carefully to what clients truly value: emissions measured by a trusted third party with ISO compliant reporting. By bringing everything together into a single partnership with NCZ, the business found one clear answer to the question every client asks, and today it responds to sustainability questionnaires with genuine confidence and pride.

And the wins keep coming. Accent has signed up to Platinum with NCZ, proudly stands among the very first businesses in the Daikin Decarbonised Partner Programme at the highest partner level, and is now embracing its most exciting chapter yet: mapping its Scope 3 emissions. Discovering that around 80% of its footprint sits in its supply chain has opened the door to a whole new world of opportunity, one that regular readers of last month’s edition will recognise well.

Read the full story on our website and see how one client question became a competitive advantage.

ACCENT SERVICES

Nature’s Air Conditioners

Did you know that trees are one of the most powerful cooling technologies on the planet, and they run entirely for free? Through the combination of shade and transpiration, urban trees can lower pedestrian-level temperatures by up to 12°C, and can make a hot day feel up to 14 degrees cooler. Satellite analysis of 293 European cities found that land surface temperatures over urban trees are typically 8 to 12°C lower than over built-up areas in Central Europe, a remarkable difference during a heatwave.

The benefits reach straight into the workplace too. Research shows that tree shade around buildings can cut cooling energy demand by up to 10%, and studies in the USA found that shade from trees can reduce household air conditioning costs by 20% to 30%. Across US cities, urban trees reduce electricity use by nearly 39 million megawatt-hours every year, saving billions in cooling costs. Every well-placed tree is quietly lowering someone’s energy bill and carbon footprint at the same time.

The impact on people may be the most inspiring part of all. A 2023 modelling study found that almost 40% of the 6,700 deaths attributable to urban heat in Europe in 2015 could have been prevented if cities increased tree cover to 30% of their land area. It is a wonderful reminder that some of the best climate solutions grow on their own, which is exactly why initiatives like our Tree in a Million campaign plant seeds today for a cooler, greener tomorrow.

When the temperature climbs, the instinct is to turn the air conditioning up and hope for the best. But the greenest and cheapest degree of cooling is the one you never need. The smartest businesses treat summer heat the way they treat carbon: measure where it comes from, stop it at the source, and only then spend energy dealing with what remains. Keeping heat out of the building in the first place, through blinds, shading, night ventilation and switching off idle equipment, costs almost nothing and works all summer long.

When active cooling is needed, small habits deliver outsized results. Setting air conditioning to 24°C rather than an arctic blast saves roughly 6 to 8 percent of cooling energy for every degree, and most people are perfectly comfortable at 24. Well-maintained units with clean filters run at peak efficiency, while clogged filters force systems to work harder for the same result. These are the rare wins where comfort, cost and carbon all point in the same direction, and they compound month after month across every site you operate.

Then think longer term, and let nature lend a hand. A well-placed tree, an awning, or external shading on a south-facing wall keeps solar heat off your building year after year for next to nothing. And ask your team for their ideas, because the people who feel the heat every day usually know exactly where it comes from. Cooling smarter is not about enduring summer. It is about designing it out.

Key Ways to Cool Smarter This Summer:

1. Keep the Heat Out First Close blinds on sun-facing windows before the day warms up, ventilate overnight or early morning, and switch off unused equipment, because every idle screen and machine is a tiny radiator working against you.
2. Set 24°C and Hold It Every degree cooler adds roughly 6 to 8 percent to cooling energy use. Set a sensible temperature policy, keep doors and windows closed while cooling runs, and resist the urge to blast.
3. Service Before Summer Clean filters and well-maintained units run at peak efficiency. Book servicing in spring so systems perform when you need them most.
4. Invest in Shade External shading, awnings and well-placed trees block solar heat before it enters the building, cutting cooling demand year after year at minimal cost.
5. Dress Down, Cool Off Switch to relaxed, casual and lighter clothing on hot days, and make use of a well-ventilated, comfortable spot in your home or office that does not rely on electric cooling appliances. Stay hydrated throughout the day and put comfort first, because keeping cool naturally is better for you, your energy bill and the planet.
6. Plant More Trees Trees are nature’s air conditioners, cooling the air around them through shade and transpiration while soaking up carbon all year round. Plant where you can, at home, at work or through initiatives like our Tree in a Million campaign, and every sapling becomes a long-term investment in a cooler, greener future.

Grow the Club, Grow the Town: The Redditch United Story

What does sustainability look like when it is driven not by a boardroom mandate but by love for a town? In this episode of Emission: Possible, Alan sits down with David Faulkner, Chairman and CEO of Redditch United Football Club, to find out. Founded in 1891 and one of the oldest football clubs in the country, Redditch United has achieved certified carbon neutral status, a milestone very few clubs at any level can claim, and David’s energy and honesty make this one of the most enjoyable conversations we have had on the pod.

For David, sustainability is about building a club that thrives for generations. A club with more than 130 years of history deserves a long future, so environmental sustainability and financial sustainability go hand in hand, built on a ten year plan rather than a focus on next weekend’s fixture. The wins he describes are wonderfully practical: motion sensors so the changing room lights are never left on, floodlights converted to LED, biodegradable match day cups that cost half a penny more than the old ones, and solar panels on the way through new FA funding. Small steps, measured properly, adding up to something remarkable.

The conversation goes deeper too. David shares how the club’s social impact report revealed £3.9 million of social value delivered to the town, a figure that surpasses many Football League clubs, and why he prefers custodian to owner. The carbon neutral achievement belongs to everyone who helped the club get there, from the partners and supporters to the five year olds coming through the academy. His advice to other clubs and businesses is generous and encouraging: start now, because every step taken today makes the journey easier, and the sooner you begin, the further ahead you will be.

Part sustainability story, part masterclass in community leadership, this episode proves that meaningful climate action does not need a Premier League budget. It just needs someone willing to start.

This season showed us what our climate has in store, and what forward-thinking businesses are capable of. We are proud to be on that journey with you.

To every client, partner and reader who makes this community what it is, thank you. From the stories you share with us to the milestones you reach, you prove month after month that sustainability is at its best when it is done together. If you have a success worth celebrating or a question worth exploring, we would love to hear from you, and it might just feature in a future edition.

If you would like a partner for the road ahead, our door is always open.

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The months ahead will bring their own challenges and opportunities, and we will be here for both, sharing what we learn and celebrating the progress you make along the way.

Thank you for reading, and see you in September.