The implications of climate change for emergency planning

This paper reviews the implications of climate change for current emergency planning, and for emergency planning as an adaptation to climate change, using the UK as an example. Heatwaves, droughts and wildfires in 2022 raised questions about how prepared the UK is for extreme events and how they might become more frequent in the future.

The evidence in this review suggests that more broadly, there is a lack of coherence between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The disconnect is between emergency planning and efforts to reduce risks, whether looked at through the lens of disaster risk reduction or of climate change adaptation. This is where greater effort is needed to improve both emergency response to extreme events and adaptation to climate change.