Health
A seriously hot summer between now and 2017 could claim more than 6,000 lives, the Department of Health report warns.
The report is to help health services prepare for climate change effects.
A panel of scientific experts commissioned by the Department of Health and Health Protection Agency (HPA) has looked at the way the UK has responded to rising temperatures since the 1970s, and how the risks are likely to change.
While summers in the UK became warmer in the period 1971 - 2003, there was no change in heat-related deaths, but annual cold-related mortality fell by 3% as winters became milder - so overall fewer people died as a result of extreme temperatures.
Rather than physiological changes explaining our ability to adapt to rising temperatures, the report puts this down primarily to lifestyle alterations - our readiness to wear more informal clothes, for instance, and the shift away from manual labour.
Nevertheless, there is at present a 25% chance that by 2017 south-east England will see a severe heatwave which could cause 3,000 immediate deaths and the same number of heat-related deaths throughout the summer.
However, even 6,000 deaths pales in comparison with the number of cold-related deaths, which in the UK currently average about 20,000 per year.
It is also a mixed picture when it comes to the health impact of air pollution.
As a result of regulations, levels of several key pollutants are likely to decline over the next 50 years, but the concentration of ozone may well increase.
Climate change poses great challenges and it is important to plan ahead for the health consequences