UK must double down on climate-adaptation spending, says Baroness Brown

The Climate Change Committee's Baroness Brown: 'The need for action could not be more urgent'

An On the wire story

All government departments will plan for climate change on the basis of a minimum of 2°C of warming by 2050, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced.

It has also said the government is investing up to £30m to strengthen the evidence base needed for climate adaption across the UK.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has welcomed the new adaptation package, saying the decision to plan for at least 2°C of warming by 2050 matches its own advice and marks a more serious approach to preparing the UK for worsening climate risks. However, it argues that the government’s new stance must now be matched by much stronger delivery and far greater investment.

Baroness Brown, who chairs the CCC’s adaptation work, said: ‘The need for action could not be more urgent. Climate change is here now, and impacting lives, infrastructure, the economy and nature across the UK.

‘Our country will need a much more concerted effort – and significantly more funding – if we are to face the scale of the challenges ahead without further risks to our way of life.’

As part of the government’s adaptation investment, the Met Office will receive £13m to develop the next generation of UK climate information, projections and tools, and £17m will be spent examining the effectiveness of real-world interventions.

Acting as a central evidence hub, the What Works Centre for Climate Adaptation will look at which strategies are successful in areas such as designing flood-resilient communities, protecting water supplies and heatproofing infrastructure.

The government has said it is committed to setting stronger, measurable adaptation objectives through the Fourth National Adaptation Programme, due in 2028. The CCC praised ministers for promising to set clearer, measurable adaptation objectives, a long-standing gap in Britain’s climate policy.

Baroness Brown cited the Met Office’s estimate that more than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes during the recent May and June heatwaves in England and Wales.

This warning has been sharpened by recent scientific analysis. Researchers from Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that about 42% of these estimated deaths were linked to the extra heat driven by human-caused climate change, with daytime temperatures around 3ºC to 4ºC higher than they would otherwise have been.

The same research underlines how extreme heat is becoming a public health emergency, particularly for older people and others more vulnerable to high temperatures.

June 2026 was reported as the hottest June on record in England, with temperatures reaching 35.1ºC at Kew Gardens – a stark reminder, the committee said, that the nation’s infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists.

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