Nikki van Dijk, technical director – climate resilience at Mott MacDonald and a contributor to CCRA4-IA’s Technical Report, discusses how the CCRA4-IA report influences a new policy and regulatory cycle, and the proactive steps on assessment and planning that the sector can already take. 

Climate change is placing the UK, including its infrastructure systems, at increasing risk. The physical impacts, such as more frequent wildfires and more severe storms, are already causing widely reported damage and disruption.

In January 2025, the exceptionally powerful Storm Éowyn brought winds above 150km/h, and led to several tragic fatalities, with widespread damage and disruption to homes, businesses and infrastructure, with insurers reporting losses of over £652m. 

Infrastructure assets and operations are exposed to climate risk but play an essential role in community resilience and adaptation – staying safe, responding and recovering when risks, such as extreme weather events, do strike. 

Adaptation reporting can enable our sector to answer the important questions raised by the government’s latest review of climate risk and ensure the infrastructure sector can continue to deliver the best possible outcomes for the communities it serves, even as climate risk intensifies. 

Why is the CCRA process important for the infrastructure sector? 

Every five years, the Climate Change Act 2008 requires the government to publish an assessment of the UK’s climate risks and priorities for adaptation. The next CCRA will be the fourth iteration and is due for publication by early 2027. 

The CCRA informs the government’s approach to policymaking, such as the National Adaptation Programme, which uses the CCRA as its basis to put adaption priorities into action across government. That can include how departments work with industry and civil society, how regulators engage and set requirements for their sectors, and the funding that’s made available to support adaptation and resilience initiatives. 

The Climate Change Committee (CCC)’s newly published Independent Assessment for the 4^th Climate Change Risk Assessment (known as CCRA4-IA) is the first step. It provides a clear, expert-led and independent view, and supports government, regulators, communities, asset owners and our industry to take evidence-based action toward the aim of a better adapted UK. Reviewing the infrastructure sector, CCRA4-IA finds distinct challenges for the infrastructure sector to grasp as climate change intensifies, including the interdependent nature of infrastructure systems, and the need to better understand and quantify the impact of climate change on the condition and exposure of existing assets. 

The ability for infrastructure providers to maintain and improve the services and outcomes people rely on will increasingly depend on how well our sector understands and adapts to those risks.  

CCRA4-IA’s risks will inform effective adaptation reporting 

The technical report highlights the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) as a key mechanism for building evidence to support informed responses. The risks identified by CCRA4-IA will shape how asset owners and service providers report at organisational level, and which priorities they address. 

The ARP enables the Environment Secretary to either request or require providers of important public services – including infrastructure – to assess climate change risks and progress being made toward adaptation. ARP reports help build the granular insight needed to further refine the approach government and regulators can take in their sectors. It provides an effective framework through which reporting organisations can better future-proof their outcomes. 

The next ARP round, ARP5, is expected to begin later this year, following a consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on its aims and design. 

Building on the challenges raised in CCRA4-IA, it’s expected to focus on: 

• Better understanding reporting organisations’ interdependencies – a significant risk CCRA4-IA identified for infrastructure. 

• Improving the quantification of risk and costs and benefits of different adaptation expectations. 

• Expanding the types of infrastructure requested to provide reports, including ICT, communications, data centres, local roads and highways and ports. 

Adaptation reporting approaches can empower major asset owners. Mott MacDonald’s work with Transport for London through ARP4 to convene its partners and assess infrastructure interdependencies across London helped shape more effective and targeted approaches to setting out adaptation funding priorities. 

What's next? 

The government will now consider the CCRA4-IA’s independent insight and evidence and bring its next CCRA to Parliament by early 2027.  

For the infrastructure sector, it will be important to absorb CCRA4-IA’s evidence and insight and its implications for its target outcomes. Many infrastructure owners and operators must then prepare to update and deliver effective adaptation reporting as part of ARP5, including gathering the data and evidence on risks and adaptation progress. 

While the challenges of climate risk are present and growing, CCRA4-IA can act as a step toward a better adapted infrastructure sector – taking effective, targeted action to safeguard the best possible outcomes. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Mott MacDonald: 

Mott MacDonald is an employee-owned engineering, management and development consultancy, with more than 20,000 people in over 50 countries. We plan, design, deliver and maintain the transport, energy, water, defence and security, and buildings infrastructure that is integral to people’s daily lives. Our core strength is using our expertise to overcome complex challenges, for the benefit of our clients and the communities they serve. 

Achieving the UK’s 2050 goals depends on building resilient, integrated infrastructure at a pace and scale never seen before. Close collaboration between government and industry is critical to design and deliver solutions that enable the energy transition, strengthen system resilience and unlock long-term social, environmental and economic value. 

Mott MacDonald is also a sponsor of the Delivering Infrastructure 2050 conference, being held in London on 30 June.