Climate Adaptation Reporting
Under the Climate Change Act 2008 the Secretary of State for the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) can direct organisations, typically infrastructure and public service bodies, to report on their climate risks and their planned adaptation actions in response to these risks. In 2024 (through the fourth round of adaptation reporting (ARP4)) local and combined authorities were invited to report on their respective climate risks and adaptation action plans on a voluntary, pilot basis.
Defra’s objectives for ARP4 are:
- to support the integration of climate change risk management into the work of reporting organisations
- to build understanding of the level of preparedness of key sectors to climate change, at a sectoral and national level
- to inform other parts of the government’s statutory cycle for climate adaptation, including Climate Change Risk Assessments (CCRAs) and National Adaptation Programmes (NAPs).
We volunteered to participate in this pilot round to demonstrate our commitment to and leadership role in climate adaptation, and to use the process to help colleagues across disciplines identify the climate risks and possible solutions facing their remit.
We have set a tight scope for our first ARP response, focusing on functions, assets and service areas that we have direct, devolved responsibility for and may be at a physical, material risk from climate impacts. While some interdependencies have been identified, more work is required to unpick these further.
Policy areas and activities that fall outside of this streamlined scope might still have the potential to be used as levers for adaptation promotion and delivery (both within and outside of the WMCA). Actions related to these areas have been captured in this report’s additional chapter, ‘Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation’.
All actions need to be proportionate and pursued in line with the appetite of risk owners. The adaptation actions outlined in this report are aspirations that WMCA teams will work towards over the next five years. Respective teams will need to identify new funding sources and secure additional resources to deliver the aspirations within this report, through the business planning process. The ability to secure funding for the development of these actions also sits within a context of public sector budget constraints.