Cop26 president Alok Sharma said the recent extreme heat had been “a real wake-up call for everyone in this country” about the impact of climate change.
The Cabinet Office minister said climate change had to be dealt with and that the hot weather seen across the UK in recent days was what “many millions of people across the world are experiencing on a regular basis”.
He was speaking during a session of Cop26 questions in the House of Commons, which also saw Labour criticise former chancellor-turned-Tory Party leadership candidate Rishi Sunak’s position on tackling climate change.
Parts of the U.K. are literally melting because of extreme heat. On Monday, Luton Airport, about 30 miles north of London, had to suspend flights because the excessive heat damaged part of its runway, adding further strain to an already tumultuous travel season.
The airport tweeted on Monday that the high temperatures caused “a surface defect” to be identified on the runway, later saying that the high surface temperatures had caused a small section of the surface to lift. Monday was another day of what the U.K.’s Meteorological Office identified as “extreme heat,” which they attribute to “exceptional, perhaps record-breaking, temperatures.” The Luton area, according to the office, saw temperatures as high as 35º Celsius – or 95 degrees Fahrenheit – on Monday.