Introduction
Climate Northern Ireland is a cross-sectoral partnership devoted to understanding and enabling adaptation and mitigation actions in Northern Ireland that can address the climate emergency.
Acting as a primary point of contact within Northern Ireland for all aspects of climate change, Climate NI has a key role in making sure that the latest policies and research which drive climate action in Northern Ireland are well understood by as many organisations and members of the public as possible.
One of the barriers to understanding climate policy and research is the number of different publications at a regional and national level, often compounded by the complex inter-relationships that they have with one another.
To address this, Climate NI has put together the NI Adaptation Policy Explained Series, assembled a series of articles to contextualise the major policy and research changes that have taken place in climate change adaptation action in 2026 for Northern Ireland, helping readers to better navigate this complex policy landscape to enact evidence-based, policy backed climate action.
To help individuals and communities involved in climate change adaptation action better understand the importance and usefulness of these reports, this series will aim to:
- Introduce the two reports; UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and NI Climate Change Adaptation Programme reports
- Outline the main features of each report, including their structure and content
- Highlight the changes that have occurred between the most recent reports and their predecessors
- Explain how these publications can be used to benefit the work of different stakeholders
We also have provided further links to relevant organisations and resources, alongside a list of FAQs that will be continually updated with readers’ questions.
Climate Mitigation vs. Climate Adaptation:
With each passing year it becomes clearer how important climate change mitigation and adaptation actions are undertaken at the same time, through emissions reductions and adaptation to the impacts we can no longer avoid. If the principles behind adaptation (e.g. risk reduction, fairness, wellbeing) are not at the heart of net zero policy we risk creating serious challenges in the future, including negatively impacting vulnerable communities, failing to plan for uncertainties in future amongst many others.
This article is concerned with ‘climate adaptation’, also known as ‘resilience’ or ‘preparedness’. Climate adaptation focuses on preparing society, environment and economy for the impacts of climate change, such as more extreme weather. This form of climate action is often the less understood counterpart to Net Zero/Greenhouse Gas emissions reduction, commonly known as ‘climate mitigation’. To learn more about the differences between the two, you can read more on our website.
The cover pages of the Third Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment – Independent Assessment Technical Report and the Well Adapted UK report
Climate Adaptation in 2026; Two major publications
This year saw the release of two publications significant to our understanding of climate change adaptation actions and risks in Northern Ireland; a new climate change adaptation action programme for Northern Ireland and a fourth round of advice on climate risk assessment for the UK.
The first of these was the Third Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programme (NICCAP3), published by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in March 2026. Every part of the UK must create an adaptation programme in response to climate risks, however Northern Ireland is the only region where actions from local government and civil society are also included, creating richer, ‘whole-of-society’ approach to resilience planning.
The second publication, the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment – Independent Assessment (CCRA4-IA), was published in May 2026 by the UK’s independent climate change advisory body, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), marking the fourth of its kind since 2008. This independent advice is what the UK Government uses to develop the UK Government’s Climate Change Risk Assessment – known as CCRA4 – due to be published in early 2027. For the first time the Independent Assessment also included an assessment on what a ‘well-adapted’ UK would look like, published with the title ‘the Well Adapted UK Report’.
Both publications have significant implications for climate change adaptation action in Northern Ireland in different ways, however their size, complexity and level of detail can hinder accessibility by not already involved in climate change adaptation policy and action. The purpose of this article is to explain how they work, how they interact with each other, and how policymakers, practitioners, researchers and anyone else can use them to benefit their work.
Quick Links:
- Climate NI Introduction to NI Climate Policy
- Third National Climate Change Adaptation Programme
- Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4-IA) – Independent Assessment
- Slides – NI Climate Adaptation Policy Explained: Updates for 2026