UK 'not ready' for effects of climate change, experts warn

Extreme weather events have been rising across the country in past years and "adaptation is needed now to ensure that the UK is prepared", the experts from the Climate Change Committee said in a new report on the country's adaptation progress.

"We know there is worse to come, and we are not ready, indeed in many areas we are not even planning to be ready," said Julia King, a member of the upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, and chair of the committee.

The committee, which is charged with reviewing the UK's progress on adaptation every two years, warned "there has been no change in addressing this risk with the change in government" after Labour took power from the Conservatives last year.

Britain has been battered by major storms, as well as been hit by flooding and heatwaves, with many places registering record 40-degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) temperatures in July 2022.

Droughts have also helped fan record numbers of wildfires -- some 500 in 2022.

"The UK will experience warmer and wetter winters -- raising flood risk for properties, agriculture, and infrastructure," the report said, adding the period "between October 2022 to March 2024 was the wettest 18-months on record for England".

Shifts towards "drier and hotter summers will increase the intensity of summer heatwaves and droughts, with rising risks of surface water flooding".

More than half of the UK's top quality agricultural land and more than a third of railways and roads are also at risk of floods, the committee said.

- 'Today's problem' -

Some 6.3 million properties in England are in flood-risk zones, with the number set to rise to eight million by 2050, or one in four properties.

High temperatures will cause some 10,000 deaths a year by 2050.

"We can't be clear enough about our message, we cannot wait to take action. This is not tomorrow's problem. It's today's problem, and if we don't do something about it, it will become tomorrow's disaster," King told journalists, as she presented the report.

"The threat is greatest for the most vulnerable. We do not have resilient hospitals, schools or care homes," King added.

None of the areas evaluated by the committee, including agriculture, water supplies, transport or building satisfactorily met the standards to be labelled as "good".

The panel made four key recommendations including improving objectives and targets, and coordination across government departments.

"Our farms are under water, food prices are going up, homes are wrecked and ordinary people count the cost," said senior Greenpeace climate coordinator Phil Evans, urging the government to "bolster Britain's resilience".

Friends of the Earth said the government's adaptation plans were "not fit for purpose" and called for "an ambitious plan that helps safeguard our homes and communities now and for the future".