A Barclays survey has found that this year’s heat waves measurably impacted the investment plans of businesses and conduct of consumers in the United Kingdom. Some 60% of companies are now investing in or plan to invest in technologies to help them adapt to extreme heat, Barclays said on Thursday. Consumers surveyed made clear that temperatures above 25.1 degrees Celsius are too hot for shopping, while at mercury readings above 24.2 C they no longer want to commute.
The results come after a record-breaking summer in the U.K., in which Britons sweated through five heat waves and temperatures topping 38 C. The hot weather cut into productivity, with the farming and construction sectors particularly hard hit. The intense heat also laid bare the extent to which much of Britain’s critical infrastructure is unprepared for rapidly rising temperatures, as schools, hospitals and public transport suffered under the strain.
Increasingly regular and intense heat waves are a direct consequence of climate change, and will grow in frequency in the coming decades as emissions from fossil fuels continue. Last year was the hottest for the U.K. since 1884, and the summer of 2026 is on track to be hotter still. By the 2050s, long-lasting, intense heat waves will be much more common and temperatures as high as 45 C could be possible, scientists have said.
The Barclays survey findings shed light on the implications of more frequent and intense heat waves for economic parameters such as consumer spending and business revenues. Extreme heat is becoming “a more regular operational challenge,” Jason Constable, head of real estate at Barclays U.K. Corporate Bank, said in a statement.
Among other findings was a 4.3% increase in cash flowing into the Barclays accounts of corporate clients specialized in air conditioning, when looking at the second quarter compared with a year earlier. The Barclays survey, which was carried out at the end of July, also found that small businesses are more vulnerable to heat-related disruption. More than a quarter said that hot weather had negatively affected productivity.
Among larger firms, meanwhile, almost half reported a positive effect. The research was conducted among 1,000 senior business decision-makers by Opinium Research on behalf of Barclays. The analysis of consumer trends was based on hundreds of millions of customer transactions, combined with a survey of 2,000 consumers.
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