As the UK Records Its Warmest Year Ever, Organisations Need to Prepare for a Hotter, Costlier Future
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Read Time: 5 mins
With 2025 confirmed as the UK's warmest year on record and recent heatwaves across the country driving a 320% surge in air conditioning demand, organisations will need to be prepared to review how they keep buildings cool, comfortable and energy efficient.
The UK's climate is changing, and the implications for businesses are becoming impossible to ignore. The Met Office's State of the UK Climate 2025 report has confirmed that 2025 was the warmest year on record dating back to 1884, with the last decade running 0.51°C warmer than the 1991–2020 average. In areas such as Greater London, the number of days exceeding 30°C and nights staying above 18°C has more than quadrupled compared with the 1961–1990 baseline.
For organisations, these are no longer statistics; they are an immediate operational and financial concern. Research from the London School of Economics and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change found that a single record-breaking June heatwave cost the UK economy an estimated £1.15 billion, due to 24 million lost working hours. Roughly 1.25 million workers reported not working at all because of the heat, while 87% of respondents experienced at least one heat-related health impact. These numbers are having a very real impact on organisations across the UK and the wider economy.
Rising temperatures force rising demand
As summers in the UK grow hotter, businesses are turning to cooling to protect employee wellbeing and maintain productivity. Recent heatwaves have been linked to a 320% increase in domestic air conditioning installation requests, and organisations are having to run cooling systems harder and for longer.
As discussed on BBC 5 Live by TEAM Energy’s Commercial Director, Tom Anderton, “We have previously come from a place where we were concerned about the cold winters and having to heat properties and be more efficient in our heating. However, with recent heatwaves and increasingly hotter summers, organisations are forced to shift into this new challenge of cooling and managing their own cooling strategies.”
But greater reliance on air conditioning brings its own challenges. Increased cooling demand raises energy consumption, drives up costs and adds to Scope 2 emissions, placing further strain on electricity networks during peak periods. It creates a difficult cycle, as hotter weather increases cooling demand, which in turn increases energy use and carbon emissions.
The pressure may soon become regulatory as well as operational. The UK's independent climate adviser, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has called for the introduction of maximum workplace temperature rules, warning that extreme heat is now one of the greatest climate-related risks to public health, productivity and infrastructure. The CCC estimates that more than 90% of existing homes could overheat during severe heatwaves by mid-century, with workplaces, schools and hospitals under similar pressure to provide safe indoor environments.
Efficiency is the smart response
Energy and Sustainability Consultancy, TEAM Energy is encouraging organisations to see this as an opportunity to act rather than simply react, and stresses that the answer isn't only about installing more cooling capacity, but about ensuring existing systems perform as efficiently as possible.
"Many buildings across the UK were never designed to cope with prolonged periods of high temperatures, so cooling systems are increasingly working overtime," says Timothy Holman, Head of Consultancy at TEAM Energy. "The organisations that plan ahead, reviewing how their systems perform and where energy is being wasted, will be far better placed to protect their people, control costs and support their net zero goals."
With so many organisations investing in cooling and ventilations systems to beat the heat, a TM44 air conditioning inspection is vital to ensure the efficiency, controls and maintenance of these systems, helping organisations identify where energy is being wasted and where performance can be improved. These inspections are a legal requirement for systems with a combined effective rated output above 12kW and must be completed every five years, but beyond compliance, they offer a practical route to lower running costs and better resilience during periods of peak demand.
Combined with robust energy monitoring and targeting, TM44 inspections give organisations clearer visibility of how extreme weather affects their energy consumption, and where efficiency gains can be made. Should maximum workplace temperature regulations be introduced, the efficiency of an organisation's cooling systems could prove crucial to maintaining safe and productive conditions.
Preparing for a warmer future
With hotter summers set to become the norm, the energy consultants at TEAM Energy recommend organisations review their energy and asset management strategies now, assessing whether cooling equipment is appropriately sized and maintained, understanding how consumption shifts during heatwaves, and identifying opportunities to improve building performance and cut wasted energy.
"Climate volatility is no longer a future risk; it is a present day reality for most businesses" added Holman. "Acting early to balance comfort with efficiency is one of the most practical steps an organisation can take to stay resilient in the years ahead."
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Editors notes
For further information, please contact:
Pauline Scoins - Marketing and PR Executive
TEAM Energy
Phone: +44 (0) 01908 690018 Ext 204
Email: pscoins@teamenergy.com
About Tom Anderton, Commercial Director
Tom is TEAM Energy’s Commercial Director. He has over a decade of experience across the carbon, sustainability, energy management and energy supply sectors. He works closely with key customers across the higher education sector to design and deliver customised enterprise reporting solutions that provide value stakeholder value and enable sustainable growth.
About Tim Holman – Head of Consultancy, MSc, MEng, CEng, MEI
Tim directs TEAM’s consultancy practice, applying 25+ years in strategy, audits, metering, and compliance to deliver robust, audit‑ready results for customers. A Chartered Energy Engineer and Member of the Energy Institute, Tim holds an MSc in Energy Conservation and the Environment from Cranfield University and an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Salford.
About TEAM
TEAM is an energy and sustainability consultancy. It helps organisations with large energy estates reduce consumption and carbon emissions to save money and meet commercial and compliance targets on their journey to net zero.
Founded in 1985, it has a long history of helping customers navigate changing definitions and certification standards. TEAM Energy is an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), with employees having a direct stake in its customers’ success.
