Greater London Authority: Building Heat Resilience through stakeholder engagement and evidence
In July 2022, temperatures in London exceeded 40°C for the first time in recorded history. Heat impacts across that summer resulted in 387 deaths and over £1.5 billion in economic damages to productivity and health, as well as putting pressure on hospitals, transport systems, and vulnerable communities. This moment marked a turning point in how the Greater London Authority approaches climate resilience.
London is already experiencing rising temperatures, and the impacts are becoming clearer across the city. Warm spells and heatwaves are becoming more common and intense, with the Met Office reporting that the likelihood of a very hot day (40 °C) in the UK is now 20 times more than in the 1960s. The length of warm spells in England has more than tripled, with the highest increase seen in the Southeast of the United Kingdom. This poses significant risks to public health, housing, public spaces, infrastructure, nature, and essential services. These risks are not shared equally. Lower-income communities, people with existing health conditions, older Londoners, children, renters, and people living in areas with less green space can face greater exposure and have fewer options to adapt.
To meet this challenge, the Greater London Authority (GLA) joined the Pathways2Resilience project and is currently developing, along with London Councils, the London’s Heat Plan: Adapting the city to a warmer climate, with a focus on promoting 'a whole of society approach’. The plan identifies priority interventions needed for the city to adapt to higher temperatures, including cooler homes and public buildings, shaded streets and public spaces, more resilient infrastructure, stronger emergency response, and the delivery of green and blue infrastructure. It sets out what needs to happen now and what should be planned for over the longer-term future. Recognising the gap between action needed and funding available, the plan is also supported by an analysis of how costs for selected heat actions could be covered. By setting out both immediate and longer‑term actions and identifying the potential routes to financing these actions, the plan aims to support the development of a safer, healthier, and more climate‑resilient London.
London’s P2R Journey: collaboration at the centre
Within the P2R Regional Resilience Journey Framework, Greater London Authority has placed their efforts on finances, knowledge and data, and governance, engagement, and collaboration as key enabling conditions to foster resilience.
London’s governance on heat adaptation is complex. Many organisations have different roles to play, but no single organisation can manage heat risk alone. Responsibilities span local, regional and national government, the NHS, emergency services, utilities, infrastructure operators, businesses, landowners, community organisations, and residents. This makes collaboration central to the Heat Plan.
To overcome this challenge, the Greater London Authority built a centralised approach to collect data, align stakeholders, narrow down adaptation options and prioritise investments. Stakeholder engagement has been central given that the London Heat Plan is written for the whole Greater London region. The plan covers six sectors: built environment; business and economy; emergency preparedness and response; health and social care; infrastructure; and nature and biodiversity. These sectors were selected using criteria aligned with the plan’s objectives and through engagement with a multi-sector group of stakeholders convened by the London Climate Ready Partnership. The actions were selected by evidence review, multi-criteria assessments, stakeholder workshops, and sector-specific discussions.
Through their participation-oriented strategy, Greater London Authority has set a strong example and learning for other large metropolitan areas in Europe that have several smaller administrative units.
Moving forward: Financing Heat Resilience
To better understand the funding challenge, the GLA conducted interviews with local authority officers to map the funding and finance landscape relevant to heat-risk mitigation in London. This work explored current sources of funding, barriers to scaling finance, and opportunities to diversify investment. The findings were tested in a workshop where more than half of London boroughs were represented, bringing local authorities together to explore practical approaches to funding and financing heat adaptation.
With Pathways2Resilience support, London has gone beyond the core project requirements by developing a costing of the 2022 heatwave, to be published alongside the Heat Plan. This strengthens the economic case for action by showing the real cost of inaction, and the range of stakeholders that bear the costs. With the support of consultants, the funding and finance work also includes a bespoke cost-benefit analysis of retrofitting London’s most heat-exposed homes, as well as literature reviews and high-level assessments for other priority actions.
“The Pathways2Resilience programme has provided invaluable support in helping us engage local authorities on the practical challenges of funding heat adaptation and exploring potential financing approaches. Their economic cost assessment has also strengthened the evidence base for the London Heat Plan, helping us show not only the cost of inaction, but also the need to invest now”
Senior Policy Officer and Adaptation Finance Lead – Jonathan Ammoun
The Heat Plan itself explores what benefits the adaptation actions deliver, who those benefits would reach, and what funding and finance models may be relevant. These models were tested and refined in a workshop with various funders and financiers across London. The plan also identifies the wider changes needed to unlock investment, including stronger evidence and policy reforms, that could help money flow to where it is needed most.
This works marks an important first step in understanding how London can pay for heat adaptation. The full analysis will be presented in a technical report published alongside the London’s Heat Plan. Further work will be needed to strengthen the evidence base, test delivery and finance models on the ground, and ensure adaptation is delivered fairly, effectively and at the scale London needs.
