The UK faces growing climate threats – where is the response to match?
Why this matters: environmental and climate reporting with long-term consequences.
Kate Williamson is a research associate focused on climate change adaptation at the Oxford Centre of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and was seconded to the UK Climate Change Committee in 2025. Magnus Benzie is a UK-based affiliated researcher with SEI. Travel and health services have been upended in the UK as high temperatures lead rails to buckle, electric lines to sag and computer systems to fail. More new homes are being built on flood-prone plains, and more existing homes are likely to become uninsurable as flood risks grow. Costs of food, petrol and diesel are rising in the wake of extreme weather and disruptions in global supply chains for fertiliser and fuel. The threats posed by climate change to people in the UK have never been so palpable in so many aspects of daily life. Meanwhile, the policy agenda to address these impacts is practically invisible – eclipsed by other public concerns and confined to largely unimplemented and inadequate plans. It is no accident that the term describing this policy agenda – adaptation – is not widely understood by the general public. Upcoming report on “well-adapted UK” The UK needs to change direction and now. This month presents a new opportunity to set a viable course. On May 20, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) – the UK’s independent advisory body on climate change – will release a first-of-its-kind report on creating a “well-adapted UK” as part of its assessment of UK climate risks. The report will set out evidence on how best to address those risks. In doing so, it will highlight how such a policy agenda can improve daily life for the country’s population. May 14, 2026 Finance UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security After promising £1.6 billion to the UN’s flagship climate fund in 2023, the UK government has now said it will only hand over half as much Read more May 12, 2026 News Scientists warn El Niño could intensify climate extremes in 2026 Climatologists sa