Climate change will cost the UK economy up to £20bn a year by 2050.
According to the government’s third five-yearly Climate change risk assessment report, “stronger or different” action is needed to reduce the burden of “costly remedial actions”, which are based on the present trajectory of global warming.
It sets out that “early adaptation investments” can reap up to £10 in economic benefits for every £1 spent.
Analysis of the pledges made at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November 2021 found that, if they are all implemented, the world is still on course to be more than 2ºC hotter in 2100 compared with pre-Industrial Revolution temperatures.
