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| Thu, 17th Jun 2021 17:20:00 |
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UK warned it is unprepared for climate chaos |
The UK is woefully unprepared to deal with changes occurring to the climate, government advisers say.
A report by the independent Climate Change Committee predicts warming will hit the UK harder than first thought.
It warns of more severe heatwaves, especially in big cities, and more intense rainfall, with an increased flood risk across most of the UK.
It says homes, infrastructure and services must be made resilient to floods, heat and humid nights.
The authors of the report on adaptation, or "climate-proofing", warn that global warming can cause damage running into tens of billions of pounds over short periods - and they say they're frustrated at the lack of government action.
The committee, also known as the CCC, says the UK is even worse prepared than it was five years ago, at the time of its last report on the risks of climate change.
The CCC is an independent group of experts set up to provide the government with advice on the climate crisis.
The chairwoman of the CCC's sub-committee on adaptation, Baroness Brown, said ministers appeared to be deterred from taking action by the upfront costs of protecting infrastructure. This is because the benefits sometimes are not seen for several years.
"They think they can put adaptation off until tomorrow," she said. "But now's the time for urgent action."
Responding to the report's findings, a government spokesman said many of the issues raised were being addressed in policy.
Here's what the CCC says the government must do to better prepare for the impacts of climate change:
Buildings
There's a need to insulate buildings to save emissions, but overheating has emerged as a deadly risk - especially in flats. The government must force landlords to improve cooling by, say, installing sunshades. Ministers must ensure all new homes are built for a hotter climate.
Nature
The state of UK nature has been declining for some time, with habitat loss one of the factors driving the loss of plant and animal species. Climate change will make the situation worse. Beech trees won't be able to tolerate conditions in southern England by 2050.
Three-quarters of upland species are likely to struggle by the end of the century, the report says. Meanwhile, peat bogs currently help reduce the effects of climate change by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. But if the world continues to warm at the current rate, peatlands could dry out, and begin releasing their stored carbon into the air.
The government must re-wet 100% of upland peat moors urgently, the report says.
Supply chains
Climate change will place pressure on our increasingly connected world and the effects can take us by surprise. For example, about 10 years ago, flooding in Thailand caused a global shortage of computer hard drives.
Rising temperatures will put supply chains at risk for food, medicines, goods and services. The report says businesses must be told to make information available to the public on threats to their supply chains.
The electrical grid
As the UK makes the transition to a low-carbon economy, we'll need more electricity for heating, lighting, and for our vehicles. So power cuts because of extreme weather will hurt the country more.
In one recent example, a lightning strike caused power cuts across England and stranded people on trains in August 2019.
The committee says a heating climate will bring some opportunities for the UK - such as the ability to grow different crops, a longer growing season that will benefit farmers and fewer winter deaths from cold - but it says these are massively outweighed by the risks.
The committee's chief executive, Chris Stark, said CCC members were so frustrated with the lack of progress on climate-proofing the UK that they deliberately made this report "spiky".
He said: "It's really troubling how little attention the government has paid to this." He told BBC News: "The extent of planning for many of the risks is really shocking. We are not thinking clearly about what lies ahead."
While the world could warm by an average of 4C by 2100, the report say the UK government's plans are inadequate to cope even with a 2C temperature rise.
Ministers must factor climate change more into policy-making, the committee says.
The report notes that, over the last five years, more than 500,000 homes have been built to inadequate standards. These will now need to be adapted at considerable expense to cope with more severe heatwaves.
The report foresees a potential "cascade" of problems from extreme weather, in which different risks combine.
These might include heatwaves and floods leading to IT failures and problems with sewage, water, power and transport.
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