Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

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What is adaptation? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment
Report5 defines adaptation as having three possible objectives: to reduce exposure to the risk of
damage; to develop the capacity to cope with unavoidable damages; and to take advantage of new
opportunities. IPCC definitions of different kinds of adaptation are provided in Box 1A.
Our report focuses on institutions and we take a broad view of the definition of an ‘institution’.
An institution can be an organisation, for example a government department, a company, a local
authority or a statutory agency; it can be the practical arrangements for implementing policies,
such as local partnerships between agencies to manage flood risk; or it can be a legal, regulatory or
policy framework, such as the EU Habitats Directive which defines the objectives and measures
required to achieve some aspects of nature conservation. For the purposes of this report, we will
use the term ‘organisation’ to mean Government departments, authorities, companies and agencies,
and ‘institutional arrangements’ to mean the legal, regulatory and administrative frameworks
within which policies and programmes are delivered.
MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION
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Mitigation and adaptation are not alternatives. The need for urgent and deep cuts in global
greenhouse gas emissions cannot be overstated. But even if it were possible to secure significant,
rapid reductions in future emissions, past and current greenhouse gas emissions mean that the
climate will continue to change for several decades to come. Indeed, even if all anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions ceased today the science suggests the planet is already locked into a
temperature increase of more than 1.4°C. 6 One of the aims of the Copenhagen Accord is to limit
global warming rises to 2°C. 7 Even if temperature increases can be limited to this amount, which
is far from certain, the impacts for some societies and ecosystems will be significant. 8
In other words, we face the challenge of having to adapt even if mitigation is successful. This
may be an unpopular political message given the global imperative to reduce emissions. And if
mitigation efforts are not successful or are too feeble, societies face the risk of dangerous iii climate
change9,10 which could have catastrophic consequences. Adaptation is therefore not only essential
but an urgent imperative.
Mitigation and adaptation are different. Whilst a big reduction in UK emissions is necessary, this
country alone cannot solve the problem of climate change, since it is the global total of emissions
which will determine the trajectory of the global climate: future UK weather, for instance, depends
on the success of global efforts at mitigation. Conversely, adaptation is primarily local: the effects
of weather are felt in particular places. Whilst we shall feel the effect of certain climate impacts
elsewhere in the world, adaptation measures need to be adopted within domestic policies and
programmes and will be specific to UK circumstances. And while for mitigation what needs
to be achieved is reasonably clear (despite the technical and political challenges of doing it), for
adaptation a myriad of different responses will be required according to circumstance. Hence, the
UK has significant responsibilities for putting its own adaptation policies in place, and their success
or failure is in the hands of national and local government, UK businesses, and communities –
from major cities and conurbations to the smallest village.
iii ‘Dangerous’ climate change is well defined in the literature, including by the IPCC. It is normally taken to include
both the climate system passing one or more ‘tipping points’, leading to runaway climate change (the release of
methane from permafrost, for example), and threats to society from the collapse of key components of the economy
and social structures (a catastrophic decline in food production or a breakdown in healthcare provision, for example)
because of the intolerable strains of climate change.
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Chapter 1