As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, the Government has undertaken the third five-year assessment of the risks of climate change on the UK.

The Government has admitted that its current efforts to insulate the UK from climate change impacts have been inadequate, saying that it must redouble its efforts to achieve net-zero and continue to raise ambitions on adaptation to ensure the UK is resilient to the challenges of a warming world.

Worryingly it states that: “While we aim to limit warming to 1.5C, the evidence shows that we must be prepared for warming up to 4°C.”

The strong evidence is that even under low warming scenarios the UK will be subject to a range of significant and costly impacts unless significant further action is taken, and that economic damages by 2050 under 2C could exceed £1bn every year.

The report also warns of risks to soil health and farm productivity, reduced water availability and energy supply.

The report ends with the statement: “The UK government accepts that to date our actions have not been sufficient in meeting the increasing risks from climate change. Since the publication of the CCC’s [The Climate Change Committee] Independent Assessment in 2021 we have been working at pace to mainstream adaptation to climate change in policy planning across government.”

Share Story: