Climate Adaptation for the UK is Urgently Needed

Climate change is here, and the risks are growing. The UK is falling behind on its climate adaptation, according to the Climate Change Committee’s 3rd Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk report published in June 2021.

The report says:

“The Climate Change Act requires that the Climate Change Committee provides advice on the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) to the UK Government six months before the Government’s UK Climate Change Risk Assessment is laid in Parliament. For this third CCRA, due in 2022, the UK Government requested the Climate Change Committee to prepare an Independent Assessment setting out the risks and opportunities to the UK from climate change up to 2100, including the Committee’s advice on priorities for adaptation for the coming five-year period.”

The CCRA3 Independent Assessment consists of a series of reports:

The Advice Report (this report);
The Technical Report, which provides a complete analysis for 61 climate change risks and opportunities for the UK, including other supporting valuation and research reports; and
The Summaries, which offers accessible and shorter introduction of the information presented in the technical report.

Key Findings from the Advice Report

The Advice Report draws on extensive new evidence from the accompanying Technical Report. The latest evidence alarmingly shows that the level of risk from climate change and the level of climate adaptation has widened. This means that climate adaptation action has significantly fallen behind the worsening threats of climate change.

The UK has the capacity and resources to respond to the risks, but it hasn’t done so. Acting now will be cheaper than postponing actions in the future.

The advice identifies eight risk areas that require the most urgent attention in the next two years. Criteria used in selecting the top risk areas include the urgency for additional and immediate action, the gap in the UK adaptation planning, the opportunity to integrated adaption into forthcoming policy commitments and the need to avoid locking in poor planning, especially as the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report also recommends ten principles for good adaptation planning that should form the basis for the next round of national adaptation plans. These are intended to bring adaptation into mainstream consideration by Government and business.

This assessment provides the Government with tools to set out a clear and measurable vision for a climate-prepare country.

To read the entire Climate Change Committee Advice Report, click the link below:

INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF UK CLIMATE RISK, ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT
FOR THE UK’S THIRD CLIMATE RISK ASSESSMENT (CCRA3)

Watch the video below to know more!