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Climate Change - a Curate's Egg

22 July 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970
 

Globally, 14 of the 15 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000 and the impacts of climate change are already being felt in the UK says the Committee on Climate Change's Adaptation Sub-Committee (ASC) says and urgent action is required to address climate-related risks.

The ASC’s new independent report to Government, ‘UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Evidence Report’ sets out the most urgent risks and opportunities arising for the UK from climate change.

The report is the result of more than three years of work involving hundreds of leading scientists and experts from the public and private sectors and civil society. The risk assessment has been peer reviewed by UK and international specialists.

Changes to the UK climate are likely to include periods of too much or too little water, increasing average and extreme temperatures and sea level rise. The report concludes that the most urgent risks for the UK resulting from these changes are:

  • Flooding and coastal change risks to communities, businesses and infrastructure.

  • Risks to health, wellbeing and productivity from high temperatures

  • Risk of shortages in the public water supply and water for agriculture, energy generation and industry, with impacts on freshwater ecology.

  • Risks to natural capital, including terrestrial, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems, soils and biodiversity.

  • Risks to domestic and international food production and trade.

  • Risks of new and emerging pests and diseases and invasive non-native species, affecting people, plants and animals.

  •  

The opportunities for the UK from climate change include:

  • UK agriculture and forestry may be able to increase production with warmer weather and longer growing seasons, if constraints such as water availability and soil fertility are managed.

  • There may be economic opportunities for UK businesses from an increase in global demand for adaptation-related goods and services, such as engineering and insurance.

Lord Krebs, Chairman of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, said: “The impacts of climate change are becoming ever clearer, both in the United Kingdom and around the world. We must take action now to prepare for the further, inevitable changes we can expect. Our independent assessment, supported by the work of hundreds of scientists and other experts, identifies the most urgent climate change risks and opportunities which need to be addressed. Delaying or failing to take appropriate steps will increase the costs and risks for all UK nations arising from the changing climate.”

Picture: The Climate Change Act requires the UK Government to compile every five years its assessment of the risks and opportunities arising for the UK from climate change, known as the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). The ASC’s Evidence Report (shown) was published last week. It will inform the Government’s second Climate Change Risk Assessment due to be presented to Parliament in January 2017.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 22 July 2016

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