February 2024 was the warmest on record. In the UK, it was the
fourth wettest February ever recorded. Climate change is now
bringing major challenges to the UK, but the CCC’s assessment of the
Government’s Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) is
that it falls far short of what is required. Evidence of the UK’s
inadequate response to worsening climate impacts continues to
mount.
Published in July 2023, NAP3 is the UK Government’s statutory
plan to ensure the country is prepared for the effects of climate
change. It improves upon previous programmes, but its key failure
remains the absence of a credible vision for a well-adapted UK,
resilient to the climate risks now facing British people and
businesses.
Baroness Brown, Chair of the Adaptation
Committee, said:
“The evidence of the damage from climate change has never been
clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptations not
working.
“Defra needs to deliver an immediate strengthening of the
Government’s programme, with an overhaul of its integration with
other Government priorities such as Net Zero and nature
restoration. We cannot wait another five years for only
incremental improvement.”
NAP3 contains a commitment to an evolving programme over its
lifetime. This should be acted on as soon as possible. The NAP3
programme is based largely on existing policy or mechanisms. That
means that less than half of the short-term actions to address
urgent risks identified in the last Climate Change Risk
Assessment are being progressed. There are critical issues which
need to be resolved:
-
Governance. Over three iterations of the NAP,
Defra has failed to make adaptation a top priority within the
department or in other central government departments, despite
the growing evidence of climate impacts. It is still not
sufficiently well-understood or resourced, particularly in
local government. The present approach of coordination by Defra
is not working. Effective cross-Government collaboration is
needed to ensure all departments are engaged with adaptation
and recognise the challenges that climate impacts can have
across multiple sectors at any one time.
-
Investment. Adaptation in the UK is
insufficiently funded to manage the scale of the climate
impacts we will experience. NAP3 does not tackle effectively
the barriers to investment, such as low perceived urgency of
adaptation, lack of clear targets and the limited understanding
of adaptation actions. There also remains a limited
understanding on the role of spending on adaptation from the
private and public sector.
-
Monitoring. The CCC cannot fully assess
progress without better monitoring and evaluation. A system of
comprehensive indicators and data collection is vital and – as
seen in other countries – it improves the response to climate
impacts.
There is currently a window to build more effective climate
resilience in the UK. Long-term decisions are being taken on the
new Environmental Land Management Scheme, there are new price
control periods for energy, water and rail, which could
accommodate effective resilience standards to manage future
climate risks. These opportunities must be grabbed before another
window for meaningful change closes.
Since the publication of NAP3, there has been international
agreement on the framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation at
COP28. Despite the UK being an important player in the
negotiation of this, the current NAP does not meet the targets
within the new Framework in full.
The NAP’s status across Government remains too low. It must be
strengthened to make it fit for the gravity of known climate
risks in the UK.
Notes to editors:
