In a new report, the independent climate advisors highlight how thousands of heat-related deaths already occur each year, but say this could rise several times over to exceed 10,000 in an average year by 2050 due to an aging population increasingly vulnerably to extreme heat.
In England, there are also 6.3 million properties in areas at risk of flooding, with this predicted to rise to around eight million – or one in four – by 2050, while the over a third of railway and road kilometres currently at flood risk is predicted to rise by 50% during that time.
Furthermore, over half of England’s top-quality agricultural land is at risk of flooding today, with this expected to increase over the next few decades.
If left unchecked, the CCC says that up to 7% of the country’s GDP could be impacted by 2050, creating challenges for driving sustainable long-term growth across the country.
Reacting to the report, IEMA CEO Sarah Mukherjee MBE said that the government could help support climate adaptation by setting clear, sector-specific guidance for businesses on which scenarios to plan for, and how to tackle systemic risks and interdependencies head-on.
“For example, how many degrees of warming should businesses plan for? And what do these scenarios mean in practice for their infrastructure, supply chains and the skill-set of their workforce?” she continued.
“In constrained economic times, it is tempting to deprioritise investment in resilience or cut back training for staff in areas like sustainability – but climate resilient infrastructure and operations must be the cornerstone of sustainable economic growth.”
The CCC’s Adaptation Committee is required to review the UK’s progress on adaptation every two years, with the latest assessment finding no evidence to score a single outcome as "good".
It recommends four key areas for government action, including:
1) Improve objectives and targets, communicating clearly the respective roles of government, the private sector and households in delivering and funding adaptation.
2) Improve coordination throughout government for adaptation across activities, spending decisions, sectors, and departments.
3) Integrate adaptation into all relevant policies, with the next Spending Review ensuring that climate adaptation planning is supported with sufficient resources across government.
4) Implement monitoring, evaluation and learning across all sectors, underpinned by regular data collection and reporting to track climate impacts and the effect of adaptation measures at a national level.
Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee, said: “We can see our country changing before our eyes. People are having to cope with more regular extreme weather impacts. People are experiencing increasing food prices. People are worried about vulnerable family members during heatwaves.
“Ineffective and outdated ways of working within government are holding back the country’s ability to be future-fit. Is this government going to face up to the reality of our situation? Failing to act will impact every family and every person in the country.”
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Chris Seekings is the Deputy Editor of IEMA’s Transform magazine, which is published biomonthly for IEMA members. Chris’s role involves writing sustainability-related news, features and interviews, as well as helping to plan and manage the magazine’s other day-to-day activities.