June temp record broken as Parliament votes on climate targets

Ahead of the vote in Parliament on the seventh carbon budget, and with confirmation that record for the hottest ever June day in the UK has been broken [1], new polling released by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit [2] from YouGov has found more than three in five (63%) voters believe the UK should be trying to meet its net zero 2050 target. In contrast, less than a third (29%) felt the UK shouldn’t be trying to meet this target or it should be scrapped.

Yet, despite public support for the target itself, the polling highlights a widespread misunderstanding about actual progress. Half (50%) of respondents believe the UK's overall progress is less than halfway or a long way off track towards the net zero 2050 target. Less than one in ten (8%) accurately identified that the UK is over halfway to achieving it.

Commenting, Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: “For the second month in a row an extreme heat record has fallen, this time just minutes before MPs vote on keeping the UK on track to hit net zero emissions. Let’s be clear, reaching net zero is the only scientific route to stopping climate change, and bringing our climate back into balance. As MPs debate in an air-conditioned chamber, extreme heat is closing schools, disrupting travel and will be putting the health and lives of vulnerable people, particularly the old and young, at risk.

“The June heat record we just broke was set in the heatwave of 1976. That heatwave stood out as unusual - enough that we’re still talking about it 50 years later – but it was an outlier back then. And our continued burning of oil and gas since has made heatwaves more likely, more frequent, and more deadly. So today’s heatwave takes place amongst a sea of red heat warnings, with dangerous highs in the 30s and 40s claiming lives across much of Europe right now.”

Dr Ella Gilbert, a climate scientist formerly of the British Antarctic Survey said: "This week marks the 50th anniversary of the 1976 heatwave. And it's fitting that now is when we break the record set in 1976. The UK is not equipped to deal with this kind of heat and humidity. Our infrastructure is built for a climate that no longer exists.

"We have shifted our climate towards something increasingly life-threatening, and we have to slow the speed of that shift.  Cutting emissions to net zero is essential to keep temperatures to safe levels, but we also need to adapt. Our homes, workplaces, businesses and behaviours need to change, and the sooner the better."

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) most recent Progress Report to Parliament shows that the UK's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 54% between the baseline of 1990 and 2025 [3]. 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz9lj5nyzwvt

2. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 2,040 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 17th - 18th June 2026.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+)
 
3. Climate Change Committee, Progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to Parliament

4. In a recent letter to the Times, Sir Brian Hoskins from the Grantham Institute Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, highlighted the importance of reaching net zero to halt global warming: https://www.thetimes.com/comment/letters-to-editor/article/times-letters-keir-starmer-stumble-labour-leap-faith-leadership-p0jj3mn7d 

For more information or for interview requests:George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net