The health of the workforce is fundamental to the health of the economy. As extreme heat becomes an increasingly persistent feature of the global climate, rising temperatures are placing greater strain on the people who grow our food, build our infrastructure, manufacture products and deliver essential goods and services. When heat compromises the health of the workforce, it also compromises the productivity that relies on worker health.
For many years, extreme heat has been treated as an occupational health and safety issue, limited to certain regions and seasons. That framing no longer holds. As heat exposure intensifies across geographies and industries, heat has become a business risk as much as a human one, shaping productivity, operational continuity and long-term resilience. The costs are already visible: in June 2026, a single week of extreme heat cost the UK an estimated 24 million working hours and £1.15 billion in lost output.
Yet, despite growing awareness, action remains limited. Many organizations understand that extreme heat poses material risks to their workforce and operations. Translating that awareness into action is harder and represents an execution gap.
This report, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, supports businesses in closing the execution gap. It provides a practical framework to help leaders assess where extreme heat risks are greatest across value chains, which interventions will deliver value and how to embed resilience into daily operations. It is complemented by a Workforce Heat Resilience Solutions Repository that allows businesses to filter interventions suited to their context.
Protecting workers from extreme heat is not only a risk mitigation cost in a warming economy, it is a condition for long-term business success. Organizations that build workforce heat resilience into how they operate will be the ones that keep performing, and keep their people safe, in the years ahead.
