Climate crisis could wipe 1% a year off UK economy by 2045, say ministers
The climate crisis will wipe at least 1% a year off the UK’s economy by 2045 if global temperatures are allowed to rise by 2C, the government has said.
More action would be needed on key areas such as flood defences, restoring natural protections such as peatlands and wetlands, and making the built environment more resilient to extreme weather, ministers said.
The government’s third five-yearly assessment of the risks from climate change was published on Monday. While taking what many regarded as a conservative estimate of future risks, the assessment painted a future of drastic disruption and costly impacts from the climate crisis.
Damage to the UK’s food production, and to infrastructure, from extreme weather, and the risks of flooding, are all likely to cost more than £1bn a year each. In all, at least eight areas of risk were judged likely to cost more than £1bn a year by 2050 – however, some may cost much more, as the risks were assessed in bands, with more than £1bn the highest available.
Many other potential areas of risk, such as risks to business supply chains and to the delivery of health services, and the potential damage to culturally important heritage sites, were judged unable to be fully assessed.
Jo Churchill, the minister for climate adaptation, said: “The scale and severity of the challenge posed by climate change means we cannot tackle it overnight, and although we’ve made good progress in recent years there is clearly much more that we need to do. By recognising the further progress that needs to be made, we’re committing to significantly increasing our efforts and setting a path towards the third national adaptation programme, which will set ambitious and robust policies to make sure we are resilient to
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