‘Baking Street’: Activists rename Tube stations in heatwave protest
- Text by Ella Glossop
- Photography by Greenpeace
‘Heatwave, sponsored by Shell’ — The protest comes as the UK recorded the hottest day in June ever recorded at 36.7C.
Greenpeace activists have temporarily renamed London Underground stations across the capital in a protest linking the UK’s record-breaking heatwave to the fossil fuel industry.
Using stickers placed over existing signs, campaigners transformed Baker Street into “Baking Street”, Tottenham Court Road into “Hottenham Court Road”, and London Bridge into “London’s Burning”. The altered station names are accompanied by stickers reading: “Heatwave, sponsored by Shell.”
The action comes as Britain experiences one of its most intense heatwaves on record. On Thursday, the UK recorded its hottest June day ever, with temperatures reaching 36.7C in Gosport, Hampshire, surpassing the previous record of 36.1C set just a day earlier.
The protest comes just weeks after Shell reported better-than-expected quarterly profits of $6.9bn (£5bn) – a 115% increase on the previous quarter – after its oil trading business benefited from soaring energy prices following the USA and Israel’s joint attack on Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to Huck about the action, Philip Evans, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK said, “If you’ve spent this week sweating through your clothes on the Tube and feeling on the verge of collapse, spare a thought for Shell. The UK’s biggest oil and gas company is making billions from climate-wrecking fossil fuels while we all must live on a cooking planet.”
“Scientists are clear that a heatwave of this ferocity would have been ‘virtually impossible’ just two decades ago and it’s being caused by the burning of fossil fuels,” he continues. “That’s why we believe the government needs to change direction and start making polluters pay for the deaths and disruption they are causing.”
The heat has disrupted daily life across the country. Hundreds of schools have closed early, rail passengers have been advised to avoid non-essential travel, and a rare red weather warning has been issued for southern England.
On Wednesday, an event during London Climate Action Week on adapting cities to extreme heat was itself cancelled because of soaring temperatures. The discussion, due to take place at the London School of Economics, was titled Extreme Heat: Improving governance and strengthening action around the world.
According to new analysis from the Met Office, Britain could experience temperatures of up to 45C by 2056, with extreme heatwaves becoming increasingly common.
Greenpeace UK co-executive director Areeba Hamid said the country was failing to prepare for a rapidly warming climate.
“The fossil-fuelled climate crisis is turning once-mild British summers into life-threatening heatwaves,” she said.
“And yet ministers are still acting as if extreme heat were an occasional seasonal quirk, when it is fast becoming a regular and serious public health risk. When classrooms become ovens, care homes overheat, transport starts to buckle and workers are forced to toil in dangerous temperatures, it’s clear the country isn’t ready.”
Sign Greenpeace’s petition to Make Polluters Pay.
Ella Glossop is Huck’s social editor. Follow her on Bluesky.
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