Adapt to thrive: Preparing the UK for climate change

The impacts of climate change have the potential to devastate lives, leave communities in turmoil and bring important government agendas to a standstill.

Heatwaves, storm damage and flooding are all affecting our way of life in the UK. Health warnings were issued during the June 2025 heatwave due to an expected rise in excess deaths. Over four and a half million English homes are threatened by the risk of flooding from downpours that overwhelm drainage systems and almost two and half million from rivers and sea.

Globally, serious shortages of foodstuffs, including vegetables, salads, olive oil and rice, have been caused by climate change, leading to an increase in the price of the weekly shop. It is clear that action to increase resilience and adapt to global warming cannot be postponed.

We demonstrate in this report that current efforts, outlined in the National Adaptation Programme (NAP), fall far short of meeting the scale of this challenge. We find that two thirds of actions being taken to tackle the most pressing climate risks are not adequate for the scale of the task.

The UK government has made growth and security its top priority. We argue that effective climate change adaptation supports this agenda, by ensuring productivity is not lost during extreme weather and that the right infrastructure is in place to provide security. Failure to adapt will stand in the way of the government’s missions, but it will also not escape voters; those who are living in overheated or flood prone homes, having their NHS treatment and appointments delayed, stranded on public transport buckling under extreme weather, priced out of buying some foods or suffering the mental ill health that comes from these pressures.

It is a complex issue needing cross government action but it can be solved with the right focus, and recent announcements, on flooding spending and insulation, may prove to be a turning point. With the help of our Adaptation Task Force, we present a set of recommendations which, if acted on, would increase resilience and begin to address systematically some of the biggest risks the UK faces. Some measures have significant other benefits that will help to prevent some extreme impacts of climate change in the first place.

Our recommendations are presented in two categories. The first are cross-cutting and speak to the government’s overall approach to adaptation. We advocate applying an ‘adaptation test’ to spending, policy development and governance, where progress could be supported and accelerated. We also recommend the government works more closely with businesses already planning for and contending with the effects of climate change. We show ways businesses are leading on developing workable and cost effective solutions. A partnership approach would be in everyone’s best interests.

Our second category of recommendations applies to the areas of greatest risk for the UK and shows the most impactful steps the government could deliver soon, under its existing agenda. They include:

• committing to nature-based solutions to climate impacts and adapting homes to be flood resilient;
• setting resilience standards for critical infrastructure; and
• preparing homes to cope with extreme heat.

This is designed to be a roadmap for early action. All the interventions we propose are designed to be implemented ahead of the publication of the next National Adaptation Programme (NAP4), due in 2028.