UK 'not prepared for climate change impact'

A newly-published report from the United Kingdom's independent Climate Change Committee has warned that "there is now unequivocal evidence that climate change is making extreme weather in the UK more likely and more extreme", that the country is insufficiently prepared, and that last summer's change of government has not brought about any change in approach.

The committee issues a report to Parliament every two years, assessing progress in climate-change related issues, and its latest summary pulls no punches in describing the seriousness of the situation, highlighting how vulnerable infrastructure is, particularly to the threat of flooding, and which areas of society are most at risk.

"We have seen in the last couple of years that the country is not prepared for the impacts of climate change. We know there is worse to come, and we are not ready – indeed in many areas we are not even planning to be ready," said Julia King, chair of the Adaptation Committee.

"The threat is greatest for the most vulnerable: we do not have resilient hospitals, schools, or care homes. Public and private institutions alike are unprepared."

Climate change, she told Sky News, "still seems to feel like it's tomorrow's problem… and if we don't tackle it today, it becomes tomorrow's disaster".

What she called the government's "ineffective and outdated ways of working" were "holding back the country's ability to be future-fit", and she warned that without a more forward-looking approach, the consequences would be felt by everyone in the country.

The report went on to say that "the vast majority of the assessment outcomes for the 2025 report have the same low scores as in 2023", and with regard to 46 judged areas of government delivery around concerns such as food security and transport infrastructure resilience, "we do not find evidence to score a single outcome as 'good'".

it also highlighted four areas where action could be taken to encourage a more effective response to the growing threat of climate change and its impact.
The first is to "improve objectives and targets", which would require better communication at all levels, from government down to individual households.

It also picked out the need to improve coordination across government, integrate adaptation into relevant policies and funding plans, and to implement monitoring and understanding of results across all sectors.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy told the BBC that climate change preparation was something the government was "really committed to", and highlighted the fact that more than two and a half billion pounds ($3.3 billion) was being spent on upgrading and maintaining existing flood defenses, as well as building new ones, "but we absolutely know, of course, there's more that needs to be done".