UK Climate Change Risk Assessment released

The Government published the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) on 25 January 2012, the first assessment of its kind for the UK and the first in a 5 year cycle. The CCRA has reviewed the evidence for over 700 potential impacts of climate change in a UK context. Detailed analysis was undertaken for over 100 of these impacts across 11 key sectors (inclduing health), on the basis of their likelihood, the scale of their potential consequences and the urgency with which action may be needed to address them. Information about the CCRA and copies of the reports produced are available on the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climate/government/risk-assessment/

Information on the website includes:

•     The CCRA UK Government Report
•     Summary of the key findings from the CCRA
•     UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2012 Evidence Report
•     Reports and Summaries for each of the eleven sectors
•     Other reports: Devolved Administrations, Climate Change Partnerships etc

In addition, Climate UK was commissioned by Defra to produce regional summary reports based on the CCRA for each English region. These are accessible via the Defra website (link above). The final version of the 'Summary of Climate Change Risk for South West England', along with 2 SW specific impact examples are directly available on the news page of the Climate SW website. On this page you will also find some information about Defra's next steps following the CCRA, in the developing the National Adaptation Programme.