1. Outline
This is a letter from Baroness Brown, Chair of the Adaptation Committee, to Emma Hardy MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs).
This letter sets out the Adaptation Committee’s response to a request for advice on strengthening the UK’s adaptation objectives.
2. Key messages
- The need to strengthen the UK’s adaptation objectives is both essential and urgent.
- Objectives should, at a minimum, prepare the country for the weather extremes that will be experienced if global warming levels reach 2°C above preindustrial levels by 2050.
- Reaching 4°C above preindustrial levels by the end-of-century cannot yet be ruled out and should be considered as part of effective adaptation planning.
- A framework of clear long-term objectives should be set out in the next National Adaptation Programme (NAP). These longer-term adaptation objectives need to be driven through a set of interim milestones, with targets every five years.
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