Adaptation actions in the natural environment: what works?

The Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Committee commissioned AECOM to produce two reports assessing adaptation actions in the UK’s cities and natural environment. This assessment focuses on the natural environment and considers what actions are being taken to adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change across a number of sectors, and how vulnerability to climate hazards is changing over time. A key finding was that, while much action is underway, it was, in most cases, unclear what impact those actions had had on reducing vulnerability or exposure to current extreme weather or future climate change impacts.

The study findings are based on six case study locations from across the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea) which cover all areas of the natural environment (terrestrial, soil and land, freshwater, coastal and marine). These projects are representative of different types of adaptation projects currently underway.