More than half of Welsh businesses are investing or considering investing to cope with extreme heat, as hotter summers begin to influence everything from workplace infrastructure to working hours and employee policies.
New research from Barclays shows 54% of Welsh businesses surveyed have either already increased investment to adapt to extreme heat or are considering doing so, suggesting climate resilience is increasingly becoming part of everyday business planning.
According to the Q2 Barclays Business Prosperity Index, 34% of Welsh firms have already increased investment in response to extreme temperatures, while another 20% are considering taking action.
Cooling infrastructure is currently the biggest priority, with 26% of businesses upgrading equipment including air conditioning and ventilation.
But businesses are also changing how people work.
More than one in five (22%) have introduced employee wellbeing measures such as additional breaks during hotter periods, while 20% are offering greater flexibility or remote working and 18% have adjusted working hours.
The figures suggest increasingly hot summers are beginning to have implications beyond the immediate weather, affecting investment decisions, workplace design and workforce management.
For smaller businesses in particular, there could also be a productivity cost. Across the UK, 27% of small and micro businesses said hot weather had negatively affected productivity.
Larger businesses appear to have been more resilient, with almost half (47%) reporting a positive impact on productivity during warmer weather.
Greer Hooper, Head of South Wales Corporate Banking at Barclays, said businesses would increasingly need access to finance to make the investments required to adapt.
She said:
“As demand for businesses to invest in cooling, ventilation, energy efficiency and wider workplace upgrades grows, access to finance to support expansion and investment will be critical. Through initiatives such as the Barclays Business Prosperity Fund, we're helping businesses invest in projects that strengthen resilience and support long-term growth.”
The changing climate is also beginning to influence consumer behaviour and trading conditions.
Barclays Consumer Spend data showed consumer card spending increased by 2% year-on-year in July, following growth of 1.9% in June, although both remained below the latest CPIH inflation rate of 2.8%.
Hot weather contributed to changes within retail. Spending at garden centres and on clothing both increased by 2.4%, while spending at electronics retailers rose by 1.5%. One in five consumers said they had bought lighter and cooler summer clothing specifically in response to the heatwave.
But the research also suggests there is a point at which warmer weather starts becoming a deterrent.
UK consumers identified 24.6°C as their ideal summer temperature, significantly below the highest temperatures experienced during 2026. For shopping, consumers said 25.1°C was the point at which conditions became too hot, falling to 24.2°C for commuting and 23.7°C for working from home.
For businesses, those preferences could become increasingly relevant to decisions around opening hours, workplace conditions, customer experience and how commercial premises are designed.
The findings come as Welsh businesses are showing stronger confidence in their own prospects.
The Barclays Business Prosperity Index found 88% of Welsh businesses were confident about their own prosperity over the next 12 months, up from 78% in the first quarter.
Credit demand also remained comparatively strong.
Although demand eased from Q1, Welsh business loan balances increased by 5% and loan volumes by 7.8%, both above the UK average and driven largely by bigger businesses.
When Covid-era lending was excluded, demand for conventional business loans also continued to outperform UK average growth rates.
That combination of stronger business confidence and changing climate conditions could increasingly influence where businesses choose to invest.
For many Welsh employers, adapting to hotter summers is therefore becoming less about responding to an occasional heatwave and more about ensuring workplaces, employees and operations are equipped for conditions that could become an increasingly regular part of doing business.
