The Climate Change Committee has published its initial assessment of the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3), the government’s programme to ensure the country is resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Published in July 2023, NAP3 is the UK Government’s statutory plan to ensure the country is prepared for the effects of climate change. The Climate Change Committee note that although it improves upon previous programmes, its key failure remains the absence of a credible vision for a well-adapted UK, resilient to the climate risks now facing British people and businesses.

The chair of the Adaptation Committee, Baroness Brown, said “the evidence of the damage from climate change has never been clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptation is not working. Defra needs to deliver an immediate strengthening of the Government’s programme, with an overhaul of its integration with other Government priorities such as Net Zero and nature restoration. We cannot wait another five years for only incremental improvement.”

NAP3 contains a commitment to an evolving programme over its lifetime, which is based largely on existing policy or mechanisms. That means that less than half of the short-term actions to address urgent risks identified in the last Climate Change Risk Assessment are being progressed.

Read the full assessment on the Climate Change Committee website.