UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3)
The Government’s first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment was published in 2012, the second in 2017 and the third in 2022, known as CCRA3.
The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) has a legal duty to advise Government on the climate change risk assessment. They commissioned a UK Climate Risk Independent Assessment for publication in June 2021, which would inform the UK CCRA3.
We contributed to the technical evidence report for the CCRA3. The report assessed current climate risks, and future risks, resulting from climate change using UKCP18 projections and published literature reviewed current adaptation and then identified any adaptation shortfall and priorities for action for the next five years.
Technical contribution
The University of Exeter led a consortium of experts who prepared the ‘technical chapters’ for the Evidence Report for CCRA3. JBA’s Climate Resilience team was appointed as co-author of Chapter 5 which covers Health, Communities and the Built Environment, along with Dr Sari Kovats, Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, Environments and Society at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Chapter 5 covers aspects such as the impact of overheating on health, flood risk to communities and buildings, the long-term viability of coastal communities and the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage. Other chapters address climate impacts on the natural environment, infrastructure, business and international dimensions.
The Independent Assessment
The UK CCRA is a legal requirement and the Independent Assessment plays a key role in informing the CCRA in relation to key risks and likely impacts. The Independent Assessment also has a more widespread use in providing Government departments, national agencies, local authorities, businesses and the public with information on the current understanding of contemporary and future climate risks that can then inform regional, local and sectoral climate change risk assessments and adaptation plans.
Contact Steve Maslen for more information about this project and climate resilience work.