United Kingdom

The UK Climate Impacts Programme was established in 1997 to help co-ordinate scientific research into the impacts of climate change, and to help organisations adapt to those unavoidable impacts. The majority of UKCIP’s funding is from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). UKCIP is based at the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University.

UKCIP works at the boundary between scientific research, policy makers and stakeholders (people working in the public, private and voluntary sectors interested in the impacts of climate change). They act to coordinate and influence research into our future climate and to share the outputs in ways that are useful to stakeholders. Further information is available on the UK Climate Projections website.

UKCIP works with businesses and organisations to help them assess how they might be affected by climate change, so they can prepare for its impact. Their website has a number of interesting case studies showing how other organisaions are dealing with climate change adaptation. There are also a number of tools developed by UKCIP which businesses, local authorities and the public can employ to help them understand their climate vulnerability and plan for future climate change. Also included in the website are online learning tools, webinars and information on courses that can be taken by businesses to help them understand the tools and adapt to climate change.  

Climate Change Act and CCRA

In 2008 the UK became the first country in the world to introduce a legally binding framework to tackle climate change. The Act requires that emissions are reduced by at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels and sets the legal framework for climate change adaptation policy in the UK. To read more about the Act and to see latest developments go to the Committee on Climate Change's website.

Another UK initiative is the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), published in 2012. The assessment gives a detailed analysis of 100 potential impacts of climate change, to enable a better understanding of the specific risks that climate change poses to the UK. The assessment will be updated every 5 years; the second installment was published in 2017 and is available here. The third installment is due in 2022.