UK heatwaves may have cost economy £4.4bn in lost output so far this year, analysis finds

The thinktank said the government should also compensate workers forced to cut hours due to extreme heat. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images

Repeated debilitating heatwaves this summer are likely to have cost the UK economy more than £4bn in lost economic output by the end of July, new analysis shows.

Green thinktank Verdant had suggested June’s unseasonally hot weather had an economic cost of £2.36bn. Updating its assessment to include last month’s high temperatures, it finds a £4.4bn hit to output.