Councils must embed climate into corporate and service risk management

Help is at hand for local authorities on their strategic response to long-term climate adaptation.

Summer 2023: disappointing for many in the UK, devastating for swathes of our European neighbours and beyond.

During the summer, the UK saw publication of both the third national adaptation plan (NAP3) and the updated national risk register (NRR).

NAP3 received a mixed response, with few new announcements but some promising elements. The Local Government Association published ‘Accelerating adaptation action:

Councils preparing for climate change’ in the spring, with recommendations for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs for NAP3 from the local government sector.

With climate change being classified as a “chronic risk” the updated NRR no longer includes it; the NRR instead is now focused on “acute risks”. Floods (coastal, fluvial, surface), wildfire, excess temperatures and heatwaves, storms and droughts are captured by NRR as acute risks.

The strategic response to long-term adaption needs to accelerate to ensure councils can continue to serve communities and shape our places effectively

Adaptation toolkit

Climate change is stated as a driver for the increased frequency and intensity of these events, and the secondary impacts of heat (such as wildfire and drought) in particular as impacting the recovery time.

The NRR is correct – climate change does require a long-term, strategic approach. Councils must embed climate into corporate and service risk management as a given – with all directorates looking at how services should be designed for future impacts.

We are experiencing them now, and they will become more frequent and more intense within the timeframes many councils have set themselves for reaching net zero. We are responding to the acute risks. The strategic response to long-term adaption needs to accelerate to ensure councils can continue to serve communities and shape our places effectively.

Where and how to start?

Local Partnerships’ adaptation toolkit provides a starting framework for assessing risk to service delivery. Our updated risk matrix (based on the Climate Change Committee’s third climate change risk assessment) has just been refreshed – both documents are available on our website www.localpartnerships.gov.uk for free.

The forthcoming Met Office local authority climate service will provide accessible data to use for scenario planning. In conjunction with the toolkit, this supports councils to identify those critical thresholds across service areas and statutory functions, and the opportunities and co-benefits for communities that many adaptive measures will deliver for local place-shaping and resilience.