“Climate change is upon us, and its impacts are getting more severe with each passing year” (Global Commission on Adaptation, 2019)
Human-induced climate change is leading to raised sea levels and increasing the frequency and intensity of precipitation in the UK and globally, placing more communities at risk of catastrophic flooding and coastal erosion.
“The world must urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions and it must increase adaptation efforts to protect vulnerable populations. Neither is happening.” (UN Environment programme, 2023)
Dramatic and urgent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions towards ‘net zero’ are needed to mitigate the damage, but we must also adapt rapidly to a stormier climate. There is an urgent need to drive a culture change in water resilient design, preparedness, response and recovery. A nucleation point is needed to focus national effort.
“Nationally we are not sufficiently prepared for the impacts of climate change” (UK Local Government Association, 2023)
Key Challenges
We have identified four main challenges to the development and adoption of innovation in climate change adaptation:
- The connection between the research base and industry supporting innovation in flood resilience needs to be stronger and more diverse.
- An established commercial flood resilience sector is lacking in the UK, as are incubators, accelerators and business clusters which directly support flood resilience, including for development and testing.
- There are significant skills shortages at all levels to grow innovation and implement best practice in flood resilience and preparedness.
- Responsibility for flood resilience is shared between many organisations and government departments, with no single point of national focus.