The UK government has unveiled its third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) which sets out a strategic five-year plan to boost resilience and protect people, homes, businesses and the UK’s cultural heritage against climate change risks such as flooding, drought and heatwaves.

According to the government, the publication of the third National Adaptation Programme "marks a step-change" in its approach to climate adaptation, setting out in one place the programme the government is undertaking to address the key climate risks facing the country.

The plan includes commitments to:

• Embed an all-encompassing approach to climate resilience in line with the Government’s Resilience Framework, which sets out commitments to review standards, assurance and regulation of infrastructure sectors, improving the systems and capabilities that underpin resilience planning.
• Extend support to vulnerable communities worldwide and tripling adaptation funding through official development assistance to £1.5 billion by 2025.
• Protect lives and wellbeing across the UK, with a new UK Health Security Agency Adverse Weather & Health Plan that builds on existing health alerting systems aimed at bolsterimg the health system to be better adapted to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
• Pilot a dedicated Local Authority Climate Service which will provide easy access to localised climate data. The Met Office tool will help local authorities plan adaptation by informing them about hazards such as increased heavy rainfall patterns and extreme heat.
• Ensure a healthy and thriving natural environment through the measures in the Environment Act, Plan for Water and Environmental Land Management Schemes which are aimed at boosting biodiversity, protecting and restoring peatlands, wetlands and rivers, and the wider natural environment, and improving air quality - helping to meet Net Zero goals and build resilience.
• Develop capacity and capability for Historic England to model long-term impacts of climate change on cultural heritage caused by increased temperatures, increased rainfall, sea level rise and extreme weather.
• Establish a senior government officials Climate Resilience Board to oversee cross-cutting climate adaptation and resilience issues across government, including preparations for heatwaves, flooding and drought, driving further action to increase UK resilience to climate change.

Announcing the plan, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said government is already investing billions on adaptation measures, including through £5.2 billion in flood and coastal schemes in England, over £750 million for the Nature for Climate Fund, which supports nature-based solutions for climate resilience, and £80 million for the Green Recovery Challenge Fund which creates jobs in nature recovery and conservation.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:

“The UK has decarbonised faster than any other G7 country since 1990 – but the effects of a changing climate are becoming increasingly evident in the UK, as well as on a global scale, through a surge in the frequency and severity of heatwaves, floods, droughts and wildfires.”

To stay ahead of future threats, a new £15 million joint research initiative led by Defra and UKRI is intended to equip researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners with vital data, skills and incentives they need to ensure proactive adaptation is happening across all areas of government policy.

The plan also outlines how schools and hospitals will develop plans to adapt to a warmer climate, including the prevention of overheating. Schools will look to use nature-based solutions, including sustainable drainage systems such as rain gardens and natural shading for outdoor spaces.

The Government will also incorporate climate resilience into industrial and security strategies to protect the country’s energy sector, safeguarding the provision of goods and services from climate-related disruption.

The Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA) requires the government to complete a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, followed by a NAP setting out how the government will address the risks identified in the CCRA. The government is currently in its third statutory cycle of national risk assessment and adaptation planning under the CCA 2008.

Measures set out in the NAP3 plan include:

Infrastructure

• The government’s new Resilience Framework sets out for the first time a strategic, whole of society approach to resilience, including new commitments on resilience standards
• Defra will drive £2.2bn of accelerated investment in water quality and resilient supply through the Plan for Water, helping to safeguard the water supply from the risks posed by the changing climate.

Natural environment

• Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) will take account of climate trends and hazards affecting local areas
• Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) will incorporate climate change adaptation into its design to promote resilient and sustainable land management and farming practices
• Six Nature Recovery Projects (NRP) will be launched in 2023 and we will work with Nature Recovery Network (NRN) delivery partners to identify and launch another 13 projects

Health, communities and the built environment

• The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will be updated to support both adaptation and mitigation efforts, in addition to recent updates to Building Regulations to reduce excess heat and unwanted solar gains in all new residential buildings
• Provision of dedicated local climate projections service to each upper tier local authority to support local adaptation planning on hazards such as heatwaves, and short-term, localised heavy rainfall.

Business and industry

The Green Finance Strategy 2023 sets out a range of actions being taken to protect the financial system from climate-driven impacts and to attract private investment into adaptation

International impacts

The International Climate Finance (ICF) Strategy sets out how government will help adapt and build resilience in vulnerable communities from climate related disasters, including through the tripling of adaptation funding through official development assistance to £1.5bn in 2025

.Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP)

• Reporting will take place on a shorter timescale to realign adaptation reports with other parts of the government’s statutory cycle
• Targeted scope expansion, including additional reporting on canals and reservoirs, health and social care and food supply

Supporting evidence

A forthcoming £15 million UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)/Defra joint funded programme will support the research and innovation needed to deliver adaptation action

Professor Stephen Belcher, the Met Office’s Chief Scientist, commented:

“The publication of the latest National Adaptation Programme is a vital reminder that climate change impacts are increasingly becoming a feature of all of our lives.

“Even with attempts to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, Met Office science informs us that wildfires, rainfall events, rising sea levels, drought and temperature extremes are going to have more serious consequences in years to come. The NAP establishes a pathway to the best resilient future.”