The Environment Agency has published an accessible version summary document of its third adaptation report Living better with a changing climate to Defra under the adaptation reporting power of the Climate Change 2008 Act which was first published in October 2021.

The summary document includes the Agency’s warning that regulation is not yet ready for a changing climate and that there will be more and worse environmental incidents and outlines the Agency’s five climate reality checks:

1. We cannot protect everyone from increasing flood and coastal risks

2. Climate change makes it harder to ensure clean and plentiful water

3. Regulation is not yet ready for a changing climate

4. Ecosystems cannot adapt as fast as the climate is changing

5. There will be more and worse environmental incidents

The 2021 report highlighted the fact that many of the country’s biggest risks relate to flooding, coastal change and water management, and already had policy frameworks in place to address them. The Environment Agency also highlighted its view that most current environmental regulations do not anticipate how climate change will exacerbate environmental risks.

The report stated:

“Environmental regulation is not yet ready for a changing climate. Climate change will exacerbate risks from (and to) regulated industries, for example, by reducing water availability and increasing pollution risks from heavy rainfall. Environmental regulations were generally not conceived to accommodate such rapid environmental change, and more flexible approaches will be needed.”

It also suggested that the changing climate alters the regulatory context and presented a challenge to environmental regulation, commenting:

“The need to support and enable innovation on the journey to Net Zero emissions will add further stress to the regulatory system; so the challenge is even greater and needs to be considered in that broader context. Legislative and regulatory standards and approaches were not conceived for this.”

In addition, the report says that not all regulatory standards and approaches are designed to:

• Respond quickly to changing pressures
• Deliver enhancements to recover climate-impacted environments
• Adapt to future hazards, which may arise as the climate crosses tipping points

"Regulatory approaches struggle to cope with the speed, breadth, severity and frequency of climate driven hazards and impacts"

In the 2021 report the Agency also cautioned that existing regulation fails to support adaptation and current regulatory approaches struggle to cope with the speed, breadth, severity and frequency of climate driven hazards and impacts.

The Agency said it wanted to transform its regulatory approach beyond managing the immediate impacts of an activity – which would include exploring opportunities to shift from direct regulation to fostering operator accountability and continuous improvement, for example by making use of national and international standards.

At the time the report also predicted the likelihood of more pollution incidents from regulated sites, due to events including flooding, extreme rainfall/ wet weather and coastal inundation and the failure of pollution control systems due to weather or flooding impacts.

The Agency also drew attention in the report to interdependencies and interacting risks due to the interconnected nature of natural, societal (in particular infrastructure) and organisational systems.

Referring to its own position in taking a lead role where there are multiple other actors, the Environment Agency commented in the report:

“Our own risks, including those we manage on behalf of the country, depend on the actions of numerous other actors and interact with risks which are outside our traditional remit. There is a risk that in striving to work with others to play our full part in tackling the climate emergency, including making the most of our knowledge, reach and data, we increasingly work beyond the roles for which we are resourced.

“Regulating industry where adaptation is largely voluntary: Our adaptation plans include actions aimed at making sure the industries we regulate are prepared for the full extent of climate change. The success of these actions is highly dependent on action taken voluntarily by industry and the organisations that determine their institutional environment (including government, other regulators, industrial trade bodies, national and international standards bodies and environmental regulators within the devolved administrations.”

Click here to download the summary document (accessible version) 31^st March 2023 Living better with a changing climate

Click here to download Living better with a changing climate Report to Ministers under the Climate Change Act - October 2021