I spoke briefly in my last blog about the scientific and economizing lens through which climate change is regularly discussed, both in academic settings and in popular culture more broadly. This issue plagues the way we tackle approaches to mitigating and adapting to climate change, with countries, corporations, and other major world powers actively working to avoid taking on a significant financial burden. An issue emerges, then, where because significant powers view climate change through a lens of minimizing personal cost and responsibility, little progress is made. 

 

The United Kingdom has made strides in the past ten years on climate intentionality, outlining a core goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In UK Export Finance’s Climate Change Strategy document for 2021-2024, they advocate the feasibility of this goal by supporting it with structured strategic ‘pillars’: they intend to support clean energy and devote resources to adaptation efforts, reduce their portfolio of greenhouse gas emissions, report consistently on progress, and encourage peer countries to apply themselves similarly. 

 

In alignment with set goals, the government is taking steps toward adaptation by building new flood defences (particularly along the Thames River), planning green space expansion in urban areas, and implementing policy on construction requiring durability to high-heat conditions. That being said, there remains much progress to be made, and little time to do so before the consequences are disastrous. The urban centers of the United Kingdom are not infrastructurally set up to tolerate a warming world, and even as we creep into late spring, I can see beginnings of a miserable summer setting in. 

 

Despite London being a relatively green city compared to other major hubs in Europe, the city faces significant urban heat island effect, with buildings absorbing heat during the day and releasing that heat back into the urban environment at night. Furthermore, the continued operation of the London Underground (or ‘tube’) has led to a gradual build-up in tunnel temperatures, due to heat emission from the brake mechanisms used by the trains, and lack of sufficient ventilation to rid the tunnels of the accumulated heat. Studies also indicate that tunnel temperatures are a function of surface temperature, and that therefore, rising surface temperatures in a warming climate could have destructive effects on the public transportation experience and contribute to the erosion of already aged infrastructure. 

 

The United Kingdom faces the immense challenge of a near-complete infrastructure overhaul; due to the historical climate of the country, construction prioritizes the retention of heat rather than heat resistance. This makes the experience of the urban environment extremely taxing – existing indoors, without air conditioning systems in most places, is hardly better than being outside, and can even be worse. 

 

I have started to feel the effects of the heat as the term comes to a close. My residence hall gets very warm at night, such that I usually crack my window when I’m going to bed, and the London Underground is a sweat-inducing experience no matter the time of day. I know it will only get hotter, and consistently hotter, as we approach my leave-date of June 9th, and I’m curious to observe how the city will cope, because with limited shade, limited cooling and public water access, and a hot public transportation system, it seems a frightening prospect.