The UK must brace for a world that is at least 2°C hotter by 2050, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned, in a stark letter to Environment Minister Emma Hardy.
The CCC says the country is already struggling to cope with today’s extreme weather, and the government must urgently raise its game to protect lives, homes and infrastructure.
“We are not yet adapted for the changes in weather and climate that we are living with today, let alone those that are expected over coming decades,” wrote Baroness Brown of Cambridge, chair of the CCC’s adaptation committee.
The letter calls for a new framework of clear, measurable objectives to strengthen the UK’s climate resilience, warning that the next National Adaptation Programme must be “materially different” from previous plans, which have “repeatedly failed”.
The CCC sets out what a “well-adapted UK” should look like — a country where health, food security and infrastructure are protected, public services can cope with heatwaves and floods, and economic growth remains “climate-resilient”.
Baroness Brown told the minister that adaptation objectives must include “clearly measurable and time-bound targets” with explicit accountability for government departments.
She warned that failure to act now would leave the UK dangerously exposed.
“The people of this country are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, and we owe it to them to prepare, and to help them prepare, for what we know is ahead,” she said.
The committee urged the government to plan not just for a 2°C rise but to consider the possibility of 4°C of global warming by the end of the century. “We continue to believe that the long-term temperature goal is achievable, but prudent risk management needs to consider a wider range of possible worse outcomes,” Baroness Brown wrote.
The CCC is calling for climate resilience goals to be met by 2050 at the latest, with progress tracked every five years. That means setting milestones for the 2030s, assigning departmental responsibilities and ensuring a delivery plan is in place.
The letter also highlights the disproportionate impact climate change will have on the poorest communities and urges ministers to target adaptation where it’s most needed.
In one of its most urgent warnings yet, the CCC said: “Governments have repeatedly failed on their ambitions to make the UK resilient to climate change. We welcome your commitment to an ambitious and impactful fourth NAP. This will have to be materially different to previous NAPs if it is to have value.”
The message is clear: Britain is running out of time to prepare for the future climate it already knows is coming.
Get Britain ready for 2°C warming! appeared first on Energy Live News.