Businesses have become increasingly clear that the nature of climate change dictates that all industruies take ownership of climate risks. Those that are most resilient will have an implicit lead over their competitors (CBI, 2010).
The Coalition Government has acknowledged that the Climate Change Act is widely regarded as a robust statutory framework for adaptation. It establishes regular assessments of our national preparedness to meet the risks and opportunities arising from climate change.
This series of Climate Change Risk Assessments will take account of reports from public bodies, regulators and utilities companies under the statutory reporting regime, as well as plans and other published information from central government departments and local authorities.
Following the first Assessment undertaken between 2008 and 20011, the Government published the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) on 25 January 2012, the first assessment of its kind for the UK and the first in a 5 year cycle. This information includes:
The CCRA has reviewed the evidence for over 700 potential impacts of climate change in a UK context. Detailed analysis was undertaken for over 100 of these impacts across 11 key sectors, on the basis of their likelihood, the scale of their potential consequences and the urgency with which action may be needed to address them.
Producing the CCRA has involved a high degree of consultation and review. The outputs provide an evidence base that can be used by central Government and Devolved Administrations in identifying priorities for action and appropriate adaptation measures that will be required to minimise risks to our economy, environment and society.
Although the primary customer for this work is central Government and the Devolved Administrations, the outputs from the CCRA are also of value to other public and private sector organisations.
This independent analysis was funded by UK Government and Devolved Governments and has been delivered through a consortium of organisations led by HR Wallingford. The outputs have been extensively peer reviewed by scientific and economics experts, an independent international peer review panel, and have also been scrutinised by the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change.