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  "path": "/2026/06/22/greta-thunberg-warns-40-c-heatwave-hit-uk-is-beginning-28878338/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-22T15:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
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    "News",
    "UK",
    "UK weather",
    "Weather",
    "Greta Thunberg",
    "heatwave",
    "Met Office issued a four-day extreme heat warning",
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    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Greta Thunberg has spoken out about the rare red weather warning about to hit the UK (Picture: Nicolas TUCAT / AFP via Getty Images)\n\nGreta Thunberg has said the UK’s leaders have ‘their heads completely buried in the sand’ over the climate crisis as a 40°C heatwave hits the country.\n\nThe climate activist, 23, told **Metro** that the blistering temperatures – which could break the record for June – are ‘only the beginning’.\n\nThe scorching heat is expected to last until at least Thursday after the Met Office issued a four-day extreme heat warning across large parts of England and Wales.\n\nThe alert indicates the weather could be a risk to life, with temperatures forecast to rise as high as 40C in parts of the UK.\n\nThe heatwave could send temperatures past 40C in parts of the UK (Picturs: EPA)\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nSpeaking out about the heatwave, Thunberg told **Metro** : ‘This is what experts have been warning about for decades.\n\n‘We know that the climate crisis is here and now, and not a faraway threat in the future, and those suffering the most are the ones who have contributed the least to cause it.’\n\nShe continued: ‘This is unfortunately only the beginning.’\n\nThis week’s high temperatures are being driven by a ‘heat-dome’ settling over western Europe, which is when an area of high pressure gets ‘stuck’ over one place, trapping warm air undernearth.\n\nScientists say that human-caused climate change has supercharged this phenomenon and made them more intense and frequent.\n\nThe record for the hottest ever May was broken last month, after parts of London hit 34.8°C.\n\nForecasters have now said there is ‘growing confidence’ this week could break the record for the hottest ever June of 35.6C, which was set in 1976 in Southampton.\n\nThunberg became the face of the global Fridays for Future movement protesting against inaction over climate change in 2018.\n\nShe led school walkouts as a teenager, including an event held in Bristol in 2020 attended by 15,000 people.\n\nGreta has become the face of the campaign to pressure governments to do more on climate change (Picture: CAISA RASMUSSEN/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)\n\nThe campaigner said: ‘What is most concerning about this is not only that we continuously shatter heat records and destabilise the entire biosphere way faster than models have been predicting, but that it is not treated as the existential crisis it is in media and politics.\n\n‘The UKs responsibility for the climate crisis cannot be overstated, still its leaders continue acting as if there was no tomorrow.’\n\nThunberg went on to claim that British leaders have their ‘heads completely buried in the sand with pockets lined up with dirty money’.\n\nClimate campaigners have long complained about the links between political parties and the fossil fuel industry.\n\nResearch reported by the Guardian in 2025 shows that government ministers met representatives from the fossil fuel industry more than 500 times during Labour’s first year in power.\n\nThe government defended the meetings at the time, saying they were part of their focus on driving ‘forward our clean energy superpower mission’.\n\nThe UK has also faced calls to pay climate reparations.\n\nCampaigners argue that the UK and other western countries became rich through centuries of high-fossil fuel use, with the consequences disproportionately affecting poorer countries in the Global South.\n\nActivists want the UK to provide climate grants and other funding to help make up for this inbalance.\n\nClimate campaigners want the UK and other western countries to pay reparations for their history of fossil fuel use (Picture: Pau BARRENA / AFP via Getty Images)\n\nThunberg backed those calls, telling **Metro:** ‘It’s about time for the UK to repay its climate debt and limit the worst consequences of a crisis people are already dying from, which there is still time to do.’\n\nSome schools in the red warning area will be shutting their doors early to protect students from the worst of the heat.\n\nThe Wren Academy in north London, is one, saying it would close at 1.50pm for three days this week to protect staff and pupils.\n\nThe UK government argues they are a global leader in decarbonisation and securing investment in clean energy industries.\n\nThe UK has reduced emissions by over 50% while growing the economy by over 80% since 1990.\n\nThe UK also remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050, which means that the total greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere.\n\nA Government spokesperson said: ‘The best way to tackle extreme weather is to tackle the climate crisis.\n\n‘We are going further and faster in our clean power mission, because it will bring energy security, lower bills for good and tackle the climate crisis.’\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Greta Thunberg warns 40°C heatwave about to hit UK ‘is only the beginning’"
}