Unavoidable increase in flood risk with 4°C climate change

A new report finds that significant additional investment and adaptation action will be needed in the UK to counter flood risk projected under a 2°C rise in global mean temperatures. But if temperatures climb by 4°C, a large increase in flood risk will be unavoidable. 

The research, led by Paul Sayers, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, warns that even the most ambitious adaptation scenarios will not be able to avoid the effects of 4°C on UK flood risk. Long stretches of current coastal flood defence structures in England will become highly vulnerable to failure as sea levels rise, making it increasingly more difficult and costly to manage the risk of widespread coastal inundation.

The report was commissioned by the Adaptation Sub-Committee (ASC) of the Committee on Climate Change who has been asked by the Government to lead the next UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. An Evidence Report will be published in July 2016, before the final Government report is presented to Parliament in 2017.

Read the report