Extreme heat has forced the cancellation of a climate event focused on extreme heat, due to be held in London on Wednesday and attended by leading climate adaptation experts23:05, 23 Jun 2026Updated 23:34, 23 Jun 2026In an irony not lost on its organisers, a climate event focused on extreme heat has been cancelled because of extreme heat.‌The event was due to take place on Wednesday at the Shaw Library at the London School of Economics (LSE) as part of Climate Action Week. However, it was cancelled after the Met Office issued a red weather warning for extreme heat covering a swathe of southern England, including London, from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.‌The conference - titled 'Extreme Heat: Improving Governance and Strengthening Action Around the World' - was being hosted by LSE’s world-leading Grantham Research Institute alongside partners including the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance.‌It was set to explore the "critical need to improve extreme heat governance globally" and examine the responses of various countries and the challenges they face.The cancellation comes after hundreds of schools announced they will fully or partially close over the next few days due to the extreme weather.‌A "heat dome" settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of nearly 40C by Wednesday, with the latest heatwave expected to surpass the UK’s June record of 35.6C set in Hampshire in 1976.Announcing the cancellation, the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance wrote in a post on social media on Tuesday: "The event venue, like most buildings in London, does not have any cooling mechanisms in place, and we cannot risk the wellbeing of speakers or guests by subjecting everyone to very unpleasant indoor conditions in addition to hot journeys to the venue."It added: "The magnitude of future impacts from extreme heat will largely depend on global mitigation efforts, local heat governance, and response plans.‌"Cities like London have unique potential to adapt to changing heat risks through effective risk management at multiple levels, connecting policies and incentives, and strengthening community adaptation capacity."The alliance, a partnership of humanitarian, NGO, research and private sector organisations, apologised to everyone planning to attend and urged people in London to stay safe.‌It comes after Professor Fredi Otto, professor of climate science at Imperial College London, told a media briefing that heatwaves will occur more often and with even higher temperatures "as long as emissions continue".She said "our homes, infrastructure, and economy are not built to cope with these conditions", adding: “The UK has been built for a climate that just doesn’t exist.”Prof Otto added: "Temperatures above 35 degrees used to be extremely rare in the UK. They have now occurred in seven out of the last 12 years, and this sustained surge in extreme heat would not have happened without human-caused climate change."‌Dr David Dawson, associate professor in sustainable and resilient cities at the University of Leeds, said heatwaves are going to become "more frequent and longer", adding that 92 per cent of UK homes could overheat by the 2050s.A Met Office report published in May found that there is an 86 per cent chance that at least one year between 2026 and 2030 will be hotter than 2024, currently the planet's warmest year on record.It also found that there is a 91 per cent chance that global temperatures will temporarily exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years.Article continues belowThe climate crisis is also making other extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and storms increasingly common across the world.If global warming exceeds 1.5C - the target limit set by the Paris Agreement - the risk of severe climate impacts rises sharply, including ecosystem damage, species extinction, more extreme weather, food and water insecurity, heat-related deaths, and the loss of ancient ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which would cause sea levels to rise dramatically.