CIWEM leads call for urgent action on climate change adaptation

CIWEM, supported by CCW and WRc, have called for urgent economy-wide action on climate change adaptation, saying the risk is underestimated and measures are ill-prepared.

In a report, Climate change adaptation reporting in the UK – mainstreaming best practice and harnessing the benefits, the organisations argue: “We need to get real: despite welcome commitments on net zero we are currently on course for an increase in global temperatures of between 3ºC and 4ºC and are not planning for how we would adapt to such a reality.”

The report includes a number of recommended measures.

• Government should consider mandating adaption reporting – CIWEM said many organisations are not committed to voluntary reporting. "Government should analyse sectoral response to the 3rd ARP round and carefully reflect on whether a mandatory approach is the only way to bring some sectors – particularly those involved with housing and local government – into the reporting cycle.”

• Sector regulators must get on board with driving adaptation – “Regulators of all kinds must recognise the importance of adaptation and resilience and encourage and enable those organisations they regulate to engage more actively and invest proportionately.”

• The sequencing of adaptation reporting rounds should be modified so that it feeds into the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) and its Evidence Report. “Presently, ARP reporting rounds close after the evidence gathering phase for the CCRA. Rescheduling rounds so that reports can feed into the Evidence Report produced by the Climate Change Committee would support the effectiveness of the overall cycle.” able those organisations they regulate to engage more actively and invest proportionately.”

• Focus more on complex, cascading risks and interdependencies as reporting becomes more refined. “A key value in reporting is developing an understanding of those risks which can be readily addressed in the short-term, and those which either need longer-term programmes or are complex and involve a range of cascading risks. There is limited guidance on how organisations can model and understand such risks, and the scenarios they should apply to doing so.”