UK ‘strikingly unprepared’ for climate breakdown, government told

The UK’s official climate advisors – the Climate Change Committee – have today told the government that despite the climate emergency having ‘arrived’ in the country, there is a ‘striking lack’ of climate preparation from government. IEMA's Tom Pashby reports.

Parliament has received a report from the committee about the UK’s progress in adapting to global heating which is already here or otherwise locked in and due to happen, because of historic greenhouse gas emissions.

The CCC was set up following the passage of the Climate Change Act 2008 into law, and is an independent non-departmental body, with responsibility for advising the UK and devolved governments and parliaments on how to tackle and prepare for climate chaos.

Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee, said: “The government’s lack of urgency on climate resilience is in sharp contrast to the recent experience of people in this country. People, nature and infrastructure face damaging impacts as climate change takes hold. These impacts will only intensify in the coming decades.”

The report spans 14 areas covering nature, water supply, energy, telecommunications, health, and several other areas.

Baroness Brown went on to say: “This has been a lost decade in preparing for and adapting to the known risks that we face from climate change. Each month that passes without action locks in more damaging impacts and threatens the delivery of other key government objectives, including net zero. We have laid out a clear path for government to improve the country’s climate resilience. They must step up.”

Responding to an article in the Guardian covering the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “We welcome the CCC’s recognition of our progress so far and will factor its recommendations into our updated National Adaptation Programme, which will be published later this year and will ensure we robustly address the full range of climate risks to the UK.”

The CCC’s report said that the government’s current National Adaptation Programme “fails to match the scale of the challenge now facing the country”, lacks a clear vision, and is not underpinned by tangible outcomes or targets.

Yesterday, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “Climate chaos is wreaking havoc on economies, businesses, supply chains, and public finances, and we are on a trajectory for far worse.”