UK Action on Climate Change
In 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up to provide governments with information to tackle climate change.
Nationally, the Climate Change Act 2008 introduced the UK’s first legally binding target of 2050 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% compared to 1990 levels. This was updated in 2019 and the Climate Change Act amended to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the UK by 2050.
The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in 2023. This sets out actions that the Government need to take from 2023 - 2028. These include plans to –
- Increase the resilience of national infrastructure to temperature extremes
- Make investments into the natural environment
- Make changes to agricultural practices
- Make changes to the built environment to protect public health
- Shift business practices
- Adapt supply chains, trade and finance
A 2025 review of NAP3 states that UK actions are inadequate. Effective adaptation and resilience plans are limited, piecemeal and disjointed, and the UK is not prepared for the impacts that are occurring now, let alone those that are still to come. The slow pace of change highlights that climate change is not yet a top priority, and that action must be taken now to raise the profile of adaptation and drive a more effective response to climate change.