The Climate Change Committee’s assessment of the Government’s Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) points to it being inadequate in its current stat, but there is still a window for creating effective climate resilience.

“The evidence of the damage from climate change has never been clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptation is not working. Defra needs to deliver an immediate strengthening of the Government’s programme, with an overhaul of its integration with other Government priorities such as net-zero and nature restoration. We cannot wait another five years for only incremental improvement,” commented Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee.

Published in July 2023, NAP3 is the UK Government’s statutory plan to ensure the country is prepared for the effects of climate change. NAP3 contains a commitment to an evolving programme over its lifetime but is based largely on existing policy or mechanisms. That means that less than half of the short-term actions to address urgent risks identified in the last Climate Change Risk Assessment are being progressed. There are critical issues which need to be resolved in governance, investment and monitoring.

Yet, long-term decisions now being taken on the new Environmental Land Management Scheme, and new price control periods for energy, water and rail, could be used to accommodate effective resilience standards to manage future climate risks.

---