Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change

The project aims to assess and overcome barriers that may hinder the UK’s ability to adapt to global warming.

Among its aims are to:

• increase awareness and engagement with adaptation
• identify and address aspects of policy, legislation and regulation that hold back the adaptation vision
• enhance the accessibility and understanding of climate model results for decision-makers
• increase understanding of the system complexity involved in climate adaptation

The project seeks to foster “transformational adaptation”; that is, it aims to provide information to help ensure that any action taken to protect people’s way of life from climate change drives positive change – especially for the poorest and most marginalized members of society who are usually also the most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

SEI is part of the consortium of eight universities and five climate organizations involved in the project. The GBP 5 million project is funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and the UK Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and is scheduled to run for three years. The program was co-designed by UKRI, Defra, the UK Met Office and the UK Climate Change Committee.

SEI will create the website that will serve as the project hub: the key portal to disseminate science-based, policy-relevant information to support effective and sustainable adaptation to climate change in the UK. It is intended to be the “go to” destination for decision-makers in the UK seeking insights about how to overcome prevailing barriers and how to use wider guidance across scales throughout the country. The website will also serve as a resource to help build a community of practice among those working on issues aimed at reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience in key sectors throughout the UK. The new website will incorporate an innovative “data dashboard” and user-friendly resources that link directly to weADAPT. The close ties with weADAPT will connect the UK hub with the global research and practice frontiers and to the global weADAPT community of people and organizations working on related issues worldwide.

The Hub Secretariat and Policy Response Unit is based at King’s College London and supported by King’s Policy Institute. Hub activities will be implemented through regional centres, each seeking to address key barriers to adaptation as follows:

• Brunel University London, the London Climate Change Partnership, and Sustainability West Midlands – addressing public awareness of climate adaptation and the barriers to engagement, with a focus on developing more effective ways to reach and engage members of the public.
• University of Glasgow and Sniffer (knowledge brokers on climate resilience in Scotland) — analysing place-based activities in Scotland, with a focus on increasing understanding of systems complexity and developing training for transformative adaptation outcomes.
• Northern Ireland Environment Link (Climate NI Team, a cross-sectoral partnership) and Queen’s University Belfast — addressing aspects of policy, legislation and regulation that hold back the adaptation vision proposed in the UK’s national adaptation plan.
• Cardiff University, Future Generations Cymru (the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales), and the Severn Estuary Partnership (supported by Netherwood Sustainable Futures) – exploring the efficacy of Welsh and Scottish approaches to well-being and future generations, and informing UK-wide, justice-oriented approaches to adaptation.
• Climate Outreach — conducting research on what people think, feel and know about climate adaptation; developing effective messaging strategies to engage the public on concepts of resilience; and helping partners to integrate these into their work.
• Newcastle University, the University of East Anglia, and the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford – creating a data integration centre to help make climate model results more easily understandable for policymakers.