Government must act to close infrastructure’s ‘climate resilience gap’, say advisory bodies

The government must institute cabinet-level oversight of work to ensure key infrastructure is resilient to the effects of climate change, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and Climate Change Committee (CCC) have told ministers. 

Building on recent reports by each, the two organisations have written a joint letter to deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and Thérèse Coffey, secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs today setting out steps to accelerate national adaptation planning. 

Record breaking storms and temperatures brought disruption to energy and transport networks last year and raised awareness of the need to invest in building more resilient infrastructure. 

In their letter to ministers, the two advisory bodies said their views on the issue were “fully aligned” and set out five actions to help close the “resilience gap”. 

The first recommendation was to set clear and measurable goals for resilience, along with action plans to deliver them. 

The CCC’s recent adaptation progress report found credible climate planning for just five out of 23 infrastructure and built environment adaptation outcomes examined. 

The group recommended that these standards are developed in time to inform forthcoming regulatory price control periods, which set investment levels for operators, and that explicity duties for resilience are handed to all infrastructure regulators. 

Cabinet-level oversight of interdependencies and system-wide resilience was also advocated, along with changes to infrastructure planning to embed consideration of resilience. 

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According to the NIC and CCC, the government has two imminent opportunities to enact this agenda – the implementation of the National Resilience Framework, published last year, and the publication of the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3), expected this summer. 

The CCC’s research has suggested that additional annual investment of up to £10bn for climate adaptation could be needed this decade, with the organisation has identified NAP3 as an opportunity to provide clarity and direction on how this will be financed and delivered.