The UK government has published plans that will set out how every major department will address the challenge of climate change. The Carbon Reduction Delivery and Adaptation Plans outline how each department will minimize the damage of climate change, by reducing emissions and by preparing for change in the UK climate.
These plans are being published alongside a single overview of what government is doing: Climate Change: Taking Action – Delivering the Low Carbon Transition Plan and preparing for a changing climate.
Joan Ruddock, Energy and Climate Change Minister, said: “The overwhelming scientific evidence shows that human induced climate change poses a huge threat to the world and we must recognize the challenge this presents to all aspects of our economy and daily activities.
“These plans show Government’s clear and unwavering commitment to reducing emissions, increasing energy efficiency and providing greater opportunities in the low carbon economy.”
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change highlights that countries will experience further warming over at least the next 30-40 years due to past emissions because of the time lag in the climate system.
UK is likely to see warmer, wetter winters and hotter drier summers with increased risk of coastal erosion and severe weather. The UK Climate Projections suggest a range of possible temperature rises of +0.8 to +4 degrees by the 2040s for different areas of the UK, compared to the 1961-1990 average temperature.
Carbon Delivery Reduction Plans set out for each department how the aims of the department relate to climate change, the measures they will be taking to ensure delivery of emissions reductions and the indicators and milestones being used to monitor progress.
Departmental adaptation plans include measures to ensure that the agricultural sector is prepared for the changes in farming practices and can take advantage of new opportunities; adapting the built environment – from green infrastructure in urban areas, to how flooding risk is considered; investment to manage flood risk and coastal erosion; heatwave plans; encouraging adaptation skills in the economy from engineering, planning and architecture, to developing new products and services.
Alongside Climate Change Plans, the government has also published information on further work to help deal with climate change. The new Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) indicator targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for its estates and operations across the whole of the government estate and increasing the resilience of the government estate to the impacts of climate change.
As per the new targets, government will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 34 % by 2020 (from 1999/2000 levels) and increase waste recovery (recycling, external re-use, composting and energy from waste) to 80% of waste arisings by 2016/17.