Research to assess the economics of coastal change management in England and to determine potential pathways for a sample of exposed communities

This is the report for the study Research to Assess the Economics of Coastal Change Management in England and to Determine Potential Pathways for a Sample of Exposed Communities.

The study was commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) Adaptation Sub-Committee (ASC) to assess the assets at risk of coastal change, conduct a national cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of measures to manage these risk, and supplement this with a series of case studies which outline the development of adaptation pathways for communities with particular coastal challenges.

Coastal change (flooding and erosion) was identified in the ASC’s UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) 2017 Evidence Report (ASC, 2016) as an area with a high magnitude of risk where more action is needed. More recently, the Government 25-Year Environment Plan set an objective for the UK to reduce its risk of harm from flooding and coastal erosion, with a focus on natural flood management solutions (HM Government, 2018).

In this context, the ASC are preparing a progress report on coastal adaptation which will draw on the findings from this study with the aim of (i) reviewing and assessing current policies and practices related to coastal flooding and erosion, and (ii) developing recommendations on what effective adaptation looks like.