CCRA3-IA

The UK Government is required, under the 2008 Climate Change Act, to publish a climate change risk assessment (CCRA) every five years. The first risk assessment was published in 2012, and the second in 2017. The third was published in 2022. The CCRA provides the evidence base to inform Government-led national adaptation programmes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has a legal duty to advise the Government on the CCRA and prepared the second Climate Change Risk Assessment evidence report in 2016. The updated independent assessment, published in June 2021, informs the UK Government’s third CCRA (known as CCRA3).

Structure of the CCRA3 Independent Assessment:

Our independent assessment is made up of a series of reports:

• The technical report provides the full analysis for all the climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. Chapters 0 to 2 cover an introduction, the wider climate change context and method. Chapters 3 to 7 cover the risk assessment split by sector – natural environment; infrastructure; health, communities and built environment; business; and international dimensions. The Technical Report has been produced by a consortium of expert technical authors, led by the University of Exeter in partnership with the Met Office.
  • The Technical Report is underpinned by a wider range of reports prepared specifically to support CCRA3, including a Valuation Report and other supporting research reports. Three calls for evidence were also carried out to identify additional evidence from the public, private and third sector stakeholders.
• The summaries provide an accessible, shorter introduction and signposting of the risk assessment presented in the Technical Report. There are two types of summary: 17 factsheets that summarise the assessment for different themes chosen by government; and four national summaries that give an overview of the risk assessment for each UK nation. The summaries have been produced by a consortium led by Sustainability West Midlands.
• The advice report provides the Adaptation Committee’s statutory advice to government on the priorities for the forthcoming national adaptation plans and wider action, drawing on the analysis in the Technical Report. This report does not summarise all the risks and opportunities in detail as this is done elsewhere, but it does provide a synthesis of the cross-cutting issues that emerge from the Technical Report, alongside the Committee’s recommendations.