Review of adaptation targets and indicators (AtkinsRealis and Climate Sense)

About this document

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) commissioned AtkinsRealis and Climate Sense to identify: existing targets related to adaptation across the CCC’s 14 systems, existing indicators to track adaptation progress, and key adaptation data gaps in the UK to provide actionable steps for how these could be addressed.

The approach combined evidence reviews, expert input, and stakeholder engagement to build a comprehensive evidence base to inform the Well-Adapted UK report and to support ongoing monitoring and evaluation of adaptation progress.

This report reflects the views of AtkinsRealis and Climate Sense and does not represent the views of the CCC.

Key messages

• Robust, objective-level targets remain rare in the UK, particularly outside regulated sectors such as water, energy, and the built environment. Many sectors lack specific and measurable targets altogether. Internationally, adaptation targets are often not clear or measurable.
  
• Existing indicators to track progress on adaptation vary widely in scope, quality, and regional coverage, affecting their usability and applicability across the UK. The highest-quality indicators were identified in regulated systems.
  
• The majority of indicators track climate adaptation actions, enablers, or climate risks, rather than directly track progress towards a system’s adaptation objective or target. As a result, most indicators only offer a partial view of progress and multiple indicators per system will be needed to comprehensively assess adaptation progress.
  
• Data gap action plans were developed for indicators in built environment and communities, health, digital and telecoms, food security, land, sea, and waste, as well as a cross-cutting indicator for monitoring local authorities. The action plans provide examples of practical approaches to close data gaps, for example by focusing on using existing data collection mechanisms.
  

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