The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has launched a major new consultation on its plans for the fourth round of climate change adaptation reporting – including filling gaps in the existing knowledge base where the climate resilience of some crucial UK infrastructure is not known.
The Government is consulting on the approach to the fourth round of reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP4 Strategy) aimed at gathering views from infrastructure operators and public bodies.
The Climate Change Act 2008 enables the Government to require infrastructure providers and bodies with functions ‘of a public nature’ to provide reports on how they manage climate risk, although this power has only been used to make mandatory directions in the first of the three previous rounds.
Reports under the upcoming reporting round are expected to cover the following areas:
- current and future projected impacts of climate change on their organisation;
- proposals for adapting to climate change; and,
- an assessment of progress towards implementing the policies and proposals set out in previous reports.
Climate resilience of some crucial UK infrastructure not known - "we do not have a complete picture of preparedness"
Image: Dawlish railway line collapse as result of svere weather in February 2014
The number of reports received in the third round of ARP, which were published in August 2022, was lower than the first round.
There were also gaps in submissions in some sectors. The non-reporting organisations included one airport, six port authorities, one rail operator, five organisations in the water sector, two government regulators, one financial regulator, and two heritage organisations. Not all infrastructure operators were formally invited to report, although this did not preclude them from making a submission.
According to Defra, this means “the climate resilience of some crucial UK infrastructure is not known and we do not have a complete picture of preparedness across those sectors.”
Under the Climate Change Act 2008’s five-yearly cycle, the government is legally obliged to consult on the proposals in the ARP4 strategy. The strategy is required to be laid in Parliament no later than the laying of National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) due in 2023.
In particular, Defra is consulting on the following considerations:
- whether or not the process should remain voluntary or be made mandatory;
- truncating the reporting window so that this and future rounds align with the timetable for the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, while streamlining and standardising the requirement on existing reporting organisations;
- widening the scope to include local authority functions, Internal Drainage Boards, canals and reservoir operators, organisations with a role in food security, and others;
- providing more guidance on issues such as risk interdependencies; and,
- reviewing the existing approach to sectoral overview reporting while striking the right balance between proportionality and climate risk insights from the sectors in question.
Reporting on interdependencies and cascading risks
The Climate Change Committee’s June 2021 Advice Report to Government stated that interacting risks pose one of the biggest challenges when assessing climate risks and system resilience to climate change.
Defra comments in its consultation paper:
“Given the wide-ranging nature of the linkages within and across sectors, a full understanding of the impacts of cascading failures is difficult to ascertain and in the CCC’s view the vulnerability of interconnected systems may be significantly underestimated.”
Defra is proposing that in round four, reporting organisations should explain their approach to identifying and managing interdependency risks. In addition, all reporting organisations should also include interdependency risks in their detailed risk assessment, including by applying a risk score and allocating specific actions in their adaptation plan to address those risks.
Proposals to extend reporting scope in 4th round to canals and reservoirs
There was limited information on canals and reservoirs in the round three reports and the CCC have recommended additional reporting on these. Canals and reservoirs are among a number of sectors being prioritised for targeted scope expansion in the next round of reporting. While the water companies already report on their reservoirs, there is currently a gap in the infrastructure associated with navigation, for which there are around 30 navigation authorities.
Defra said it is exploring the potential of inviting the Canal and River Trust (CRT) to submit a report. The CRT is a registered charity that receives grant funding from government to care for a 2000-mile network of canals, rivers, reservoirs and docks.The CRT also the third largest owner of heritage sights, with their network including 2,980 bridges, 1,580 locks and 335 aqueducts.
Out of the 30 navigation authorities, CRT is the largest, followed by the Environment Agency (EA) and Broads Authority (both of which have their own unique set of climate risks). However, due to the BA’s smaller size, number of relevant assets, and the burden it would create, in Defra’s view this would not be proportionate at the present time and smaller navigation authorities than the BA would also be out of scope.
The EA, as another major operator of canals and reservoirs, already report, although Defra said it would consider asking for more specific information on these functions.
Reporting scope to be widened to cover Local Authorities, agriculture and food supply chain resilience
Defra has also agreed that in principle there could be value is seeking reports from organisations that play a role in getting food from field to fork. It is also exploring these options, although it says it is difficult to identify relevant organisations that fall within the scope of the legal power.
Defra intends to invite the Association of Drainage Authorities to report on behalf of its Internal Drainage Board (IDB) members, IDBs are the small public bodies that manage water levels in an area, known as an internal drainage district, where there is a special need for drainage. The IDBs undertake works to reduce flood risk to people and property, and manage water levels for agricultural and environmental needs within their district.
Following on from the CCC recommendation that Local Authorities should be included in the scope of adaptation reporting, Defra is also proposing that Local Authority reporting should be piloted with a small group of authorities drawn from the 333 Local Authorities in England in round four of ARP.
This is particularly relevant in the context of the requirement in the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 for Lead Local Flood authorities to consult and produce a local flood risk management strategy.
In the previous third reporting round, fifty-six reports were submitted under the climate change Adaptation Reporting Power, representing over 120 organisations in total (reflecting company groups, joint reports and sectoral groupings).
Deadline to submit responses to the consultation on Defra’s proposed strategy for the fourth round of the Adaptation Reporting Power is 11:45pm on 5 April 2023. The final strategy will be laid before Parliament alongside the UK’s third National Adaptation Programme in mid-2023.
Cick here to download the consultation document
Click here to access the consultation online.
Click here to access the climate change adaptation reporting: third round reports, 17 August 2022