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Temperatures in the UK could hit 40C this week for the second time since records began, and inefficient, high-impact animal agriculture is responsible.
Farming animals for food is thought to be the main culprit for rising global temperatures, and the worsening climate crisis has led to a series of global extreme weather events, from floods and crop failures to droughts and heatwaves.
Read more: Animal Ag, Not Fossil Fuels, Is The Leading Cause Of Climate Change, Says New Study
Record-breaking temperatures across Europe, which experts have noted is warming faster than global averages, have already led to multiple heat-related deaths in France. In the UK, the Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning and forecast 40C heat throughout much of England and South Wales.
Friederike Otto, a professor of Climate Science at London’s Imperial College, said, “There’s a sad inevitability to all of this, with scientists like me trotting out the same quotes year after year. Yes it’s climate change, yes it’s us, no it’s not El Niño.”
“Simply put, we remain on a one-way trip towards a more dangerous future, and it’s time we hit the brakes,” Otto continued. He added, “This heat is not an inconvenience; it is a growing public health threat. Every heatwave puts lives at risk, and it’s long past time we treated it with the urgency it demands.”
‘Our first 40C day was supposed to be a wake-up call’
The last time the UK hit 40C was in 2022. Since then, the world has seen widespread flooding, severe drought, wildfires, storms, and crop failures. In 2024, global warming exceeded 1.5C across an entire year for the first time, and hundreds of scientists predicted that temperatures will meet or exceed 2.5C degrees warming by 2100.
In the UK, temperatures have steadily increased over the past half-century, and 2025 was the country’s hottest year ever. Experts do not believe that the UK will be able to meet its 2050 Net Zero target on its current trajectory, which includes “credible” plans for tackling just one third of the emissions reductions required.
“Our first 40C day was supposed to be a wake-up call, but clearly someone hit snooze. Hitting 40C again – and in June this time – would be incredibly alarming,” Otto said.
Read more: Netherlands Reduces National Meat Recommendations By 40%
‘Upgrade our industry, transport, and agriculture to vanquish greenhouse gas emissions’
Last year, a peer-reviewed paper argued that animal agriculture was responsible for 53 percent of the global average temperature rise between 1750 and 2020. The paper found that fossil fuels, long thought to be the main driver of climate change, are responsible for approximately 19 percent of global warming to date.
Meat production has risen by 400 percent since 1961, and the average person’s meat consumption has nearly doubled. Global consumption is expected to increase by around 12 percent by 2033, and per-capita consumption by up to three percent.
Richard Allan, a professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, said, “The reality of global warming talked about when I was young in the 1980s is now playing out, yet the solution to avoid further dangerous climate change remains unchanged – upgrade our industry, transport, and agriculture to vanquish greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of society.”
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