The UK Climate Change Act (2008) and Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 set out a statutory five-yearly cycle of UK climate change risk assessments, followed by national adaptation programmes for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each cycle leads into the next so that learning, experience and adaptation action can feed through and result in progress in adapting to climate change in the UK over time.
National Adapation Programme – England
The National Adaptation Programme (NAP) sets the actions that the UK Government will take to adapt to the challenges of climate change in England, plus a small number of reserved sectors across the UK such as defence. It is the UK Government’s strategy to address the main risks and opportunities identified in the risk assessment for England, and is also produced every five years. The CCC has a statutory duty to evaluate progress in adaptation through the NAP every two years.
Adaptation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- In Scotland the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places a duty on ministers to lay a programme for climate change adaptation following each CCRA. The Act also requires an annual report on progress and for the programme to be independently reviewed every two years.
- In Wales the UK Climate Change Act requires Welsh Ministers to produce reports on the Welsh Government’s objectives, actions and future priorities regarding the impacts of climate change. More can be found in the latest programme: https://gov.wales/prosperity-all-climate-conscious-wales
- In Northern Ireland the UK Climate Change Act makes provision for the NI Executive to publish a Climate Change Adaptation programme as soon as reasonable practicable after the publication of each CCRA. More can be found in the latest programme: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-climate-change-adaptation-programme-2019-2024
