Prioritising adaptation at the

national levelUK experience

Presented by: Zebedee Nii-Naate & Robert Hitchen

Date:18th June 2014

UK Climate Change Policy Framework

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Adaptation Lead Mitigation Lead

Climate Services

Delivery

Five year cycle

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Climate Change Act

2008

Adaptation Reporting

Power

2011

Climate Change Risk Assessment

2012

National Adaptation Programme

2013

UK Climate Projections (2009)

Economics of Climate Resilience (March 2013)

Review every 5 years

Climate Change Risk Assessment 2012

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• The first CCRA was laid before Parliament in

January 2012.

– It characterised 100+ risks and opportunities for the

UK in the face of a changing climate. (Prioritised from an

earlier list of 700)

– Large programme of evidence and research work,

conducted externally by a consultancy firm.

– Evidence report built around 11 sectors:

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Climate Change Risk Assessment

Melting roads/road safety

Increased storm activity/damage to infrastructure

Hotter drier summers/changes in tourism

Increased rainfall/ flooding

Urban heat island effect/overheating

Vision: “A society which makes

timely, far sighted and well

informed decisions to address the

risks and opportunities posed by

a changing climate.”

The National Adaptation Programme

7 Themes

31 Objectives

~370 Actions

Over 250 stakeholders

Chapter Heading

Built Environment

Infrastructure

Healthy and Resilient Communities

Agriculture and Forestry

Natural Environment

Business

Local Government

https://www.gov.uk/government/publica

tions/adapting-to-climate-change-

national-adaptation-programme

The NAP – over 250 organisations involved

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OF LONDON

Economics of Climate Resilience

• The ECR explored a series of policy questions

set by the lead Ministries across government

• 12 questions were selected using the following

criteria:

– Likelihood, timing and consequences of the climate

risk or opportunity

– Degree to which there is a current gap in the

evidence

– Extent to which the ECR could add value to inform

policy making while not duplicating on-going research

across government

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Policy questions

“Given projected climate change and

current and expected adaptation,

what is the case for further

intervention in relation to…?”

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ECR analytical framework

• For each question:

– Assessment of the scale of the challenge –

impacts differ across sectors

– Assessment of adaptive capacity

– Common framework to assess the extent to

which adaptation actions are currently being

implemented

– Framework for identifying barriers to effective

adaption

– Specific interventions identified to address

the main barriers

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Health risk: case study approach

• Flood risk to hospitals: Gloucestershire (SW

England), Worthing (south coast), Liverpool (NW

England)

• Risk to mental health/wellbeing from flooding:

Hull, Doncaster (Yorkshire), Gloucestershire

• Community resilience to flooding: Doncaster

(river, surface water), Great Yarmouth (coastal)

• Risk to over 65s from heat: Eastbourne (south

coast England), London (urban heat island)12

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Risk from heat to over 65s

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...which informed commitments in the National

Adaptation Programme

Department of Health, Public Health England

working with local government, voluntary sector

and health service to:

extend reach of Heatwave Plan for England

beyond health sector

ensure Plan targets and acts to safeguard

the most vulnerable

support community preparedness and

resilience

Coordinate across health and care providers

and commissioners

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Next steps – 5 year cycle

• 2014: Evidence gathering for 2nd CCRA

• 2015:

– Adaptation Sub-Committee statutory report to

Parliament on the implementation of the first

NAP

– Organisations reporting to Government under

the 2nd round of the Adaptation Reporting

Power

• 2017: 2nd Climate Change Risk Assessment

• 2018: 2nd National Adaptation Programme report

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Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017

• Adaptation Sub-Committee has started work on the

evidence report and recently completed a call for

evidence from stakeholders

• Government will then submit the formal CCRA report to

Parliament by 2017.

• Second CCRA is more focused than the first:

– Interactions between risks and the effect they can

have when occurring in concert

– Risks where new evidence has emerged

– Fuller assessment of socio-economic factors

interacting with climate change risk

– Overseas impacts could impact UK supply chains

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Annex

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Macroeconomics of climate change

• Survey five methodologies:

1. bottom-up, sector-specific studies

(e.g. of coastal protection)

2. integrated assessment models

(IAMs)

3. adaptation-IAMs

4. multi-sectoral models (e.g. CGE

models)

5. studies of extreme weather

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