The UK Climate Resilience Programme ran from 2019 to 2023

Webinar: Indicators of changing climate risk in the UK

UK Climate Resilience Programme webinar series

Wednesday 20 May  12.00-13.00

Speaker: Professor Nigel Arnell,  Professor of Climate Science, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading.  Stakeholder: Brendan Freeman (Committee on Climate Change)

Abstract – Nigel Arnell

In order to increase resilience to climate change it is necessary to understand climate risks and how they are likely to change in the future. This seminar presents a summary of the Climate Risk Indicators project (involving the University of Reading, CEH Wallingford and the University of Leeds), which is calculating a series of indicators relevant to policymakers in the UK at national and local levels. The selected indicators represent a range of thresholds for decisions and consequences across many sectors, including water resources, flooding, transport, health, agriculture and emergency planning. The indicators are calculated with UKCP18 climate projections, and presented both for low and high emissions and at different levels of forcing, and are presented at a range of spatial scales. The seminar will describe the indicators and their uses in policy. 

Brendan Freeman: To support the Committee on Climate Change’s biennial assessment of the Government’s progress towards adapting to climate change, the CCC collects indicators to assess trends in risk factors: hazard, vulnerability and exposure. We are currently working with a range of organisations to identify, develop and populate further adaptation indicators to broaden the existing set. As a stakeholder, the NERC Climate Resilience ‘Climate Risk Indicators’ project will be an important support for the CCC’s work in this area, in preparation for our next assessment of adaptation in 2021.

See Prof Nigel Arnell’s slides for his presentation on Indicators of Changing Climate Risk in the UK

Watch videos of the webinar on our YouTube channel:

This webinar is the first of a series of mainly fortnightly webinars hosted by the UK Climate Resilience Programme – see the full programme.