Too hot for work: why extreme heat is a threat to Europe’s productivity

Canary Wharf station in east London. Workers across the UK and Europe have faced sweltering offices and disrupted commutes. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAView image in fullscreenCanary Wharf station in east London. Workers across the UK and Europe have faced sweltering offices and disrupted commutes. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAProductivityToo hot for work: why extreme heat is a threat to Europe’s productivityHigh temperatures make some workplaces dangerous, with economists warning disruption will dent growth

Joanna PartridgeFri 26 Jun 2026 01.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 26 Jun 2026 03.39 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleMonique Mosley is used to sweltering conditions at the food factory in Yorkshire where she works, but June’s record-breaking heatwave has made conditions unbearable. “We make hot filled food products and it’s common that we see temperatures in the high 30s,” she said. “Thanks to our union, our employer is offering extra breaks, but not every workplace is the same.”

The latest heatwave to grip the UK and much of western Europe has presented significant challenges to employers and their employees, from sweltering offices, disrupted commutes and school closures to dangerous construction sites where workers are at risk of dehydration, heatstroke and other injury.

There is now a growing acceptance that increasing spells of extreme heat have a significant impact on productivity and threaten Europe’s already sluggish economies. Economists warn that the climate crisis will dent economic growth unless European countries adapt their ageing buildings and infrastructure.

Robert Marks, the lead climate economist at Oxford Economics, said temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s would “likely lead to substantial productivity losses and directly disrupt labour across construction, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality and other sectors which are unable to provide a protected work environment”.

“These sectors represent 27% of economic activity in the UK and an average of 35% in western Europe,” he said. As a result, a four-day heatwave “could reduce quarterly labour productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points in the UK and up to two percentage points in the rest of western Europe”.

The largest loss of working hours in western, northern and southern Europe by 2030 is expected to be felt by the agriculture and construction sectors, according to research by the International Labour Office.

View image in fullscreenA construction worker in Wimbledon. The largest loss of working hours in western, northern and southern Europe is expected to be felt by the agriculture and construction sectors. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/ShutterstockResearchers at the insurance group Allianz found extreme heat was emerging as a “structural economic risk” for Europe. They found France, Spain and Italy were among the European economies most exposed to the growing economic cost of heat stress (the UK was not included in the study). This was because productivity losses intensify sharply above a 30C threshold, while at the same time the cost of energy required to cool machinery and buildings rises.

France could lose $240bn (£182bn) in economic output between 2026 and 2030 under the study’s stress scenario, followed by $147bn for Italy and $120bn for Spain, representing a cumulative loss of as much as 7% of gross domestic product.

“The heatwave is not an exception, it is a direction,” said Katharina Utermöhl, the head of thematic and policy research at Allianz Investment Management and a co-author of the study. “Extreme heat costs all of us as workers, as businesses, as taxpayers, and there is a difference between countries that adapt and those that wait. It would be better to stop treating it as a summer problem and start treating it as a permanent economic policy challenge.”

The heatwave has reignited tensions between employees and employers. While workplace regulations in the UK set out a minimum working temperature – 16C in an office, or 13C if strenuous physical work is required – there is no maximum legal temperature. This is because some places such as kitchens or foundries can be hot all the time. Instead, the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) guidance to employers tells them to keep the environment at a “reasonable” temperature for employees.

There are separate regulations for workers on construction sites, where “reasonable” temperatures are required for indoor areas and the rest areas of outdoor sites, and workers also need to be protected from adverse weather.