25YEP refresh series: Is the UK prepared for climate change?

(c) Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

This is the sixth of a series of series of seven blog posts covering our asks in several environmental areas for the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) refresh (also known as the Environmental Improvement Plan, or EIP) in January 2023. In this post written by Beth Chamberlain, Senior Policy Officer – Climate Change Adaptation and Melanie Coath, Principal Policy Officer – Climate Change, we will outline the key RSPB asks for the climate change adaptation and mitigation in England.  

Since the publication of the 25 Year Environment Plan the UK Net Zero Strategy has been published and the third National Adaptation Programme is underway. With the upcoming 25YEP refresh, there now needs to be more emphasis across policies on the role of nature in tackling climate change. 

With the state of our environment regularly making headlines, it will come as no surprise that we face a climate emergency and, without urgent action to tackle and adapt to climate change, millions of species will be at risk of extinction. To address this, the UK Government set out goals for reducing emissions and adapting to climate change in its 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP). These goals focussed on three key areas: 

• Cutting greenhouse gas emissions including from land use, the agriculture and waste sectors and the use of fluorinated gases 
• Ensuring all policies, programmes and investment decisions consider the possible extent of climate change this century 
• Implementing a sustainable and effective second National Adaptation Programme setting out actions that the UK Government and others will take to adapt to climate change in England over a five-year period.  

The 25YEP also demonstrated ambitions to be world leading in the environmental movement at a critical point in time. This was supported by targets to achieve net zero in carbon emissions by 2050 (net zero strategy), and agreements at the COP26 conference to a 78% cut in our emissions by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. However, implementation has proven more difficult, so let’s take a look at what has actually been achieved so far.  

2018-2022 – What has been achieved?  

Mitigation 

Starting with the good news - progress was made on the international stage, emphasising the role of nature in tackling climate change at the COP26 climate conference (Glasgow, 2021). This included securing a decent set of commitments and investments around deforestation and land use, but the devil is in the detail and how these commitments are implemented on the ground will be key. 

The Westminster Government introduced a Peat Action Plan and a Tree Action Plan to restore peatlands and increase tree cover respectively in England. These show ambition in the right direction but the plans lack detail, such as the type of trees which will be planted, which will be vital in ensuring the schemes are effective. A £640 million Nature for Climate Fund was set up to support this tree planting and peatland restoration. 

The net zero legislation set out in 2019 was a very welcome step forward on climate ambition from the preceding Climate Change Act targets but does not go far enough and the target date should be brought forwards to achieving net zero by 2045 to be more equitable given UK is a rich country and has extensive historic emissions. Some progress has been made towards achieving the net zero target, such as the increase in electric car sales and renewable electricity deployment, but again, the implementation of policies remains key and the Climate Change Committee has flagged in its most recent Progress Report that many areas lack meaningful progress.  

In particular, the UK Government’s net zero strategy does not present a credible plan for land use decarbonisation. The RSPB is therefore urging BEIS and Defra to work together to develop this as soon as possible to provide clarity, direction and vision for this sector, and to empower farmers and land managers who want to decarbonise their businesses, making UK land contribute further and faster to reaching the UK’s climate targets, while also benefiting nature.  

Adaptation 

The third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), published in January 2022, outlines key climate change risks in the UK and their urgency. In response to this, each UK nation prepares a National Adaptation Programme, which sets out how the country’s government will address the risks identified in the CCRA3. As per the 25YEP, a second National Adaptation Programme was implemented and actually drafting of the third National Adaptation Programme is underway in England which is positive news. 

The third National Adaptation Programme has the potential to be a game changer in helping the UK to adapt to climate change if it is done well. In this National Adaptation Programme we need to see a clear vision for what a well-adapted UK looks like, and for nature to be put at the heart of this. Nature-based solutions, which involve working with nature to address societal challenges, should be given a much greater role in our response to climate change given the huge benefits they can provide for both people and wildlife. 

There have been other developments in the UK’s approach to climate change adaptation. For example, in 2020, in conjunction with HM Treasury, Defra updated the Green Book guidance to ensure that climate adaptation is factored into the appraisal of government programmes and policies. There has been dedicated funding for six-yearly adaptation programmes through the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. Climate change assessments have been embedded into the water resources planning guidelines (applies to England and Wales only), for example, when forecasting water supplies. 

The bad news is that despite progress in some areas, the Climate Change Committee’s progress report to UK Government has shown that over the last five years, the gap has widened between planned adaptation measures and future levels of risk associated with climate change. 

What does the RSPB want to see in the refreshed 25YEP? 

It is crucial that opportunities to tackle and adapt to climate change are better embedded across all policies covered by the 25YEP. The science is clear that the climate and biodiversity crises must be tackled in tandem if we are to succeed with either, and nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation are one critical opportunity for doing this. Climate change adaptation, in particular, is often overlooked, with more focus being given to mitigation - this is apparent in the 25YEP. Currently, there is not enough emphasis on the need for effective adaptation measures and the role that nature can play in this, or a clear vision of a well-adapted UK and a roadmap to support this. Adaptation opportunities must be considered, alongside those for mitigation, across all policy areas in the 25YEP rather than just in the climate goals as policies. 

The RSPB has identified the following actions to help nature and society in the UK to mitigate and adapt to climate change: 

• The UK Government should ensure that opportunities for climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as any potential trade-offs, are recognised and acted upon within all relevant policy areas in the refreshed 25YEP. For example, win-win approaches should be identified such as agroforestry which supports adaptation and mitigation, as well as food security and nature objectives, therefore working towards multiple separate goals within the 25YEP.   

• The 25YEP commitments to reduce greenhouse gases from the land use sector should be supported by a new land use and net zero strategy which includes policy mechanisms to deliver rapid and meaningful reductions from farming, currently lacking from the UK Government’s published net zero strategy. There will be some benefits from the Peat and Tree Action Plans but, despite the Environmental Land Management framework in England, there are still no meaningful detailed policies to drive down emissions from agriculture.  

• The UK Government should adopt the approach recommended by the Climate Change Committee and ensure that all 25YEP goals and policy areas are effective for an average global temperature rise of 2°C and assess them for a 4°C rise. It is important to understand whether policies and approaches will be relevant in a warmer world and, if not, to address vulnerabilities in the proposed policies. For example, the 25YEP goal to enhance biosecurity will need assessing to ensure it is fit for purpose in a warmer world in which evidence indicates there will be an increase in pests, pathogens and invasive species. This will also mean ensuring that sectors like our infrastructure and agriculture will be able to continue to function under these warmer conditions.  

• Robust targets for adaptation must be underpinned by a dedicated indicator in the Outcome Indicator Framework in order to monitor changes in species composition as the climate warms. This would help to understand how well adapted England’s nature is in the face of climate change and where we need to focus conservation efforts. It could also help show where progress is being made towards achieving the 25YEP objectives or where further work is needed.  

• The refreshed 25YEP should encourage consideration of nature-based solutions ahead of other more conventional approaches being considered for tackling climate change. This is due to the co-benefits that nature-based solutions deliver which other, often more costly options, fail to deliver.  

An opportunity for change 

The 25YEP refresh presents an opportunity for the UK Government to take ambitious and robust actions to ensure it upholds its commitment to ‘leave the environment in a better state than we found it’. Currently, the UK Government is not acting with the necessary urgency and, whilst the ambitions set the right direction, implementation is lagging behind and sadly the list of environmental challenges is continuing to grow.

As well as the 25YEP, there is the imminent COP27 international climate conference and the upcoming COP15 international biodiversity conference, so now more than ever we need the UK Government to take action for the sake of people and nature, and to tackle together the defining issues of our time: the climate change and nature crises.