Expert Workshop on Adaptation Financing and Implementation, Putting Priorities into Practice in OECD Countries, Paris, 18-19 June, 2014

1. Prioritising adaptation at the
national level
UK experience
Presented by: Zebedee Nii-Naate & Robert Hitchen
Date:18th June 2014

2. UK Climate Change Policy Framework
2
Adaptation Lead Mitigation Lead
Climate Services
Delivery

3. Five year cycle
3
Climate
Change Act
2008
Adaptation
Reporting
Power
2011
Climate
Change Risk
Assessment
2012
National
Adaptation
Programme
2013
UK Climate
Projections (2009)
Economics of Climate
Resilience (March 2013)
Review every 5 years

4. Climate Change Risk Assessment 2012
4
• The first CCRA was laid before Parliament in
January 2012.
– It characterised 100+ risks and opportunities for the
UK in the face of a changing climate. (Prioritised from an
earlier list of 700)
– Large programme of evidence and research work,
conducted externally by a consultancy firm.
– Evidence report built around 11 sectors:

5. 5
Climate Change Risk Assessment
Melting roads/road safety
Increased storm activity/
damage to infrastructure
Hotter drier
summers/changes in
tourism
Increased rainfall/
flooding
Urban heat island
effect/overheating

6. Vision: “A society which makes
timely, far sighted and well
informed decisions to address the
risks and opportunities posed by
a changing climate.”
The National Adaptation Programme
 7 Themes
 31 Objectives
 ~370 Actions
 Over 250 stakeholders
Chapter Heading
Built Environment
Infrastructure
Healthy and Resilient
Communities
Agriculture and Forestry
Natural Environment
Business
Local Government
https://www.gov.uk/government/publica
tions/adapting-to-climate-change-
national-adaptation-programme

7. The NAP – over 250 organisations involved
7
OF LONDON

8. Economics of Climate Resilience
• The ECR explored a series of policy questions
set by the lead Ministries across government
• 12 questions were selected using the following
criteria:
– Likelihood, timing and consequences of the climate
risk or opportunity
– Degree to which there is a current gap in the
evidence
– Extent to which the ECR could add value to inform
policy making while not duplicating on-going research
across government
8

9. Policy questions
“Given projected climate change and
current and expected adaptation,
what is the case for further
intervention in relation to…?”
9

10. 10

11. ECR analytical framework
• For each question:
– Assessment of the scale of the challenge –
impacts differ across sectors
– Assessment of adaptive capacity
– Common framework to assess the extent to
which adaptation actions are currently being
implemented
– Framework for identifying barriers to effective
adaption
– Specific interventions identified to address
the main barriers
11

12. Health risk: case study approach
• Flood risk to hospitals: Gloucestershire (SW
England), Worthing (south coast), Liverpool (NW
England)
• Risk to mental health/wellbeing from flooding:
Hull, Doncaster (Yorkshire), Gloucestershire
• Community resilience to flooding: Doncaster
(river, surface water), Great Yarmouth (coastal)
• Risk to over 65s from heat: Eastbourne (south
coast England), London (urban heat island) 12

13. 13

14. Risk from heat to over 65s
14

15. ...which informed commitments in the National
Adaptation Programme
Department of Health, Public Health England
working with local government, voluntary sector
and health service to:
extend reach of Heatwave Plan for England
beyond health sector
ensure Plan targets and acts to safeguard
the most vulnerable
support community preparedness and
resilience
Coordinate across health and care providers
and commissioners
15

16. Next steps – 5 year cycle
• 2014: Evidence gathering for 2nd CCRA
• 2015:
– Adaptation Sub-Committee statutory report to
Parliament on the implementation of the first
NAP
– Organisations reporting to Government under
the 2nd round of the Adaptation Reporting
Power
• 2017: 2nd Climate Change Risk Assessment
• 2018: 2nd National Adaptation Programme report
16

17. Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017
• Adaptation Sub-Committee has started work on the
evidence report and recently completed a call for
evidence from stakeholders
• Government will then submit the formal CCRA report to
Parliament by 2017.
• Second CCRA is more focused than the first:
– Interactions between risks and the effect they can
have when occurring in concert
– Risks where new evidence has emerged
– Fuller assessment of socio-economic factors
interacting with climate change risk
– Overseas impacts could impact UK supply chains
17

18. Annex
18

19. Macroeconomics of climate change
• Survey five methodologies:
1. bottom-up, sector-specific studies
(e.g. of coastal protection)
2. integrated assessment models
(IAMs)
3. adaptation-IAMs
4. multi-sectoral models (e.g. CGE
models)
5. studies of extreme weather
19