HR Wallingford delivers climate change study

The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) report was laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman. It presents, for the first time, a comparison of a wide range of climate change risks based on their economic, social and environmental implications.

Explaining the significance of the CCRA, Ian Townend, director of research at HR Wallingford said, “This has been a very demanding study. The need to address the risks to all aspects of UK life from climate change, called for a multi-disciplinary approach.

“Over the past two and half years the consortium led by HR Wallingford has delivered an innovative method that uses the research and data available to compare risks across sectors on a consistent basis. It not only provides one of the broadest national assessments ever completed but, hopefully, also provides a solid foundation for future cycles of the CCRA.”

Dr Steven Wade, head of the Water Management Group at HR Wallingford, said the company had been working on climate change adaptation for more than a decade. Considering the results of the study Dr Wade said, “Although we anticipated that floods, droughts and heat waves would feature prominently, we also found that the overall risk landscape was complex and affected by geography, social and economic change, the connection between risks and the international context.

“Some people and places appear to more vulnerable than others to future climate change. For example, the key priorities for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales show some overlap with those of the UK as a whole but also important differences; changes in water temperature may have a greater impact on fisheries in Scotland, the steep landscape in Wales means a heightened risk of flash floods and landslides, whilst disruption of supply routes due to extreme weather has greater significance in Northern Ireland.”