Environment Agency and climate change adaptation
Information and documents about the Environment Agency’s work on adapting to a changing climate.
The Environment Agency’s role in climate change
Climate change will significantly affect the Environment Agency’s work. We are responsible for:
- acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- regulating low carbon and renewable energy schemes
- helping people and wildlife adapt to the impacts of a changing climate
We take into account the effects of severe weather and a changing climate on our daily work. We need to make sure that we:
- understand how climate change affects the environment and what this could mean for our customers – for example, the effect on water demand and the availability of water
- design our flood defences and other assets to perform effectively in a changing environment
- have the right plans in place to respond to emergencies such as floods and droughts
- provide advice, guidance and technical information so customers and partners can account for climate change – for example, how local planning authorities can use future flood allowances when assessing flood risk
See recent speeches relating to the Environment Agency’s work on climate change.
UK Climate Projections 2018
Using the latest science from the Met Office and around the world, the UK Climate Projections 2018 illustrate a range of future climate scenarios until 2100 – showing that increasing summer temperatures, more extreme weather and rising sea levels are all on the horizon and urgent international action is needed.
UKCP18 has been developed by the Met Office Hadley Centre, in partnership with Defra, BEIS, the Devolved Administrations and the Environment Agency, and has been extensively peer reviewed by an independent science panel.
Use of UKCP18 by the nuclear industry
The effects of climate change on the scale and frequency of some natural hazards could be significant over the lifetime of a nuclear site.
The Environment Agency, Office for Nuclear Regulation and Natural Resources Wales expect operators of the following sites to use UKCP18 projections when assessing the impacts of climate change:
- nuclear licensed sites
- disposal sites for radioactive waste
The regulators have produced a position statement on how the UKCP18 projections should be used when carrying out climate change assessments for nuclear safety cases or for planning purposes. You can find it under the miscellaneous reports on the Office for Nuclear Regulation website.
Adaptation reports under the Climate Change Act
The Environment Agency’s third adaptation report under the Climate Change 2008 Act sets out the risks they face from climate change and what they are doing to prepare.
The first report under the Climate Change Act is in the Zip file Adaptation plan reports: benchmarkers, water companies.
Climate change impacts and adaptation report
An evidence-based report summarising climate change in England. It includes examples of current and future impacts and the adaptations that are needed.
Guidance for flood risk assessments
How local planning authorities can use future flood allowances in flood risk assessments.
Climate change and environmental permitting
How environmental permit holders must consider the risks of a changing climate to and from their business through their management systems (as appropriate). Read the section ‘A changing climate’ in the guide ‘Develop a management system: environmental permits’ to find out what the Environment Agency expects to see within appropriate management systems. Find out about the sort of risks and possible mitigations we expect operators to consider when they carry out their climate change risk assessments.
Climate change and water resources planning
Research that examines how water companies have included climate change in their water resources planning and how they could do this in future.
Climate proofing our strategies and plans
The Environment Agency recognises that more needs to be done to prepare for climate change and is taking steps to climate-proof its new strategies and plans.
We have produced internal guidance that provides staff with a simple approach for screening climate risks.
Last updated 31 August 2022 + show all updates
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Added how environmental permit holders must consider the risks from a changing climate. Added the Environment Agency's third Climate Change Adaptation Report under the Climate Change 2008 Act. Added recent speeches by Sir James Bevan, CEO and Emma Howard-Boyd, Chair that relate to Environment Agency work on climate change.
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First published.