The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is urging change as it says the UK is ‘built for a climate that no longer exists’
Air conditioning, flood measures, and secure water supplies are the biggest changes the UK needs to make to buildings and the surrounding areas, according to the CCC’s latest report, A Well-Adapted UK.
The CCC is the UK’s independent climate advisor, responsible for important research and reports, including the Carbon Budget, the seventh iteration of which was published in February last year.
Issues are already present, but will get worse
The report states that by 2050, 92% of homes in the UK are likely to overheat in hot weather, peak river flows will increase by up to 45%, and water supply shortfalls could grow past 5 billion litres per day.
Furthermore, if no action is taken, these issues could cause public welfare costs to rise to between 1-5% of the UK’s GDP, assuming a 2°C global warming increase, or somewhere between £60-£260bn per year.
Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee, said: “Our lives, our landscapes and our homes are under increasing pressure from the changing climate. But we are not powerless. In an increasingly unstable world, being well adapted to climate change is fundamental to securing our food, energy and economic security.
“This report carries a message of hope. The solutions already exist, and proven technologies are available now to help the UK adapt effectively. With the right decisions and actions, we can protect the people and the places we love.
“We can protect patients and residents in overheated hospitals and care homes, children in nurseries and schools, and communities facing repeated flooding. We can support our farmers to maintain our food supplies. We can keep sports pitches usable, high streets open for business, and iconic British music festivals running safely.
“The public want to see change and the government now has an opportunity to step up and protect our way of life.”
Key investments and measures are needed
The CCC proposes an investment plan to head off these issues before they become unbearable or even deadly, splitting £11bn per year between public and private funding for several actions.
The proposed measures are as follows:
- Protect people from heat. Invest in cooling – including air conditioning, heat pumps and green shading – across key public services. The government should commit to a national maximum temperature for workplaces to protect workers’ safety and incentivise the deployment of cooling.
- Manage flood risk. Long term investment in measures such as flood defences, effective emergency response, and natural solutions, like wetlands, are essential. Annual flood risk investment must rise to around £1.6–£2.2bn each year across the UK to prevent risks increasing further. The government should also manage development in flood-prone areas carefully, avoiding new construction where risks are not adequately reduced.
- Avoid water shortages. Maintain a strong regulatory focus on drought, scale up sustainable water storage, accelerate leakage reduction and cut demand. All new homes should be water-efficient from the outset.
- Support nature to adapt. Increase public investment in nature restoration and modernise regulation to support ecosystems to survive and thrive under future climate conditions, not those of the past.
- Keep farming viable. Support farmers with the skills, information and training they need to make climate-resilient decisions. Actions include crop diversification and on farm water storage to reduce drought risk and build resilience.
- Understand the risks to food security. Improve the quality, consistency and availability of information on climate risks across the food system. The government should make the Adaptation Reporting Power mandatory and extend it to large food companies, reflecting their role in food security and price stability. They should also consider the potential for large-scale national food stockpiling.
- Maintain access to insurance. Ensure the right protections are in place and the costs of extreme weather are shared so insurance remains affordable and available. Urgent clarity is needed on the future of flood reinsurance, including the Flood Re scheme, ahead of its current 2039 end date.
- Adapt infrastructure to avoid cascading disruption. Design and maintain transport, energy and telecommunications systems to operate safely under future climate conditions. Government and regulators must take a more structured approach to managing dependencies between infrastructure systems to avoid widespread disruption.
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