Climate change adaptation and resilience in the UK

Climate change adaptation refers to the actions required to manage the effects of unavoidable expected climate change. Climate change mitigation refers to actions to prevent or reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address the underlying causes of climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines adaptation as “adjustments in ecological, social or economic systems” in response to actual and expected climate change.

While mitigation has historically been the focus of much action, adaptation is increasingly recognised as necessary to manage climate change: even if global targets to limit global warming are reached, there is scientific consensus that there will still be significant changes to the climate that require adaptation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations notes that adaptation also focuses on building resilience and preparedness for climate change. The Met Office predicts that as the UK climate changes, summer heatwaves and severe flooding will happen more often. Adaptation can help to ensure that communities are well prepared to deal with these challenges.

This briefing provides an overview of the legislation, targets and governance that underpin adaptation in the UK, the current mechanisms and policy approach, and an overview of progress. It also sets out current adaptation action across key areas, including stakeholder commentary on this progress.

Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK is legally required to address the risks from climate change. The government is required to produce a climate change risk assessment to identify risks and a five-yearly national adaptation programme setting out how it will address these risks.

The third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) was published in January 2022 and sets out the risks to the UK from climate change. The fourth risk assessment is due to be published in 2027.

The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and sets out actions that the government will take over the next five years, covering the period between 2023 and 2028.

These actions include plans to increase the resilience of infrastructure to increasing temperature extremes, investment in the natural environment and shifts in crops and agriculture, changes that will need to be made to the built environment to protect public health, and shifts in business practices. Wider risks and actions are also set out across cross-cutting areas, including impacts and adaptations required across supply chains and in trade and finance.

The UK’s progress in implementing climate change adaptation measures has been scrutinised by parliamentary committees, independent organisations and wider commentary from experts.

The independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) is required to report on adaptation progress biennially, with some special reports. Its 2023 progress report and shorter 2024 assessment of NAP3 set out set out a case that the current NAP process is not adequately preparing the UK for current or future climate change. The CCC made recommendations relating to to governance, investment and monitoring. These included a need to make adaptation a fundamental part of all government policy making across departments, and to align the existing regulatory and policy processes with the next Spending Review.

The CCC published its 2025 progress report in May 2025, which assessed that the UK’s preparations for climate change are inadequate, that the government has yet to change the UK’s inadequate approach to tackling climate change risks, and that “the government must act without further delay to improve the national approach to climate resilience”.

In May 2026, the CCC published its advice to government on the fourth climate change risk assessment. It emphasised that climate change is already disrupting life across the UK, and identified priorities for better cooling, flood protection and a more secure water supply.