The country is not equipped for the heatwaves, flooding and wildfires it will face as climate change makes extreme weather more likely, says the Climate Change Committee.

Despite “unequivocal evidence” that climate change is making such events more likely, the UK is “not appropriately prepared” - and there has been no change in addressing this risk with a change in government.

The comments come as the Climate Change Committee published its latest report - Progress in adapting to climate change: 2025 report to Parliament.

The committee highlighted several areas of concern:

• More than half of England’s top quality agricultural land is at risk of flooding, with a further increase in total agriculture land at risk expected by 2050. Climate change also poses a major threat to UK biodiversity, at a time when it is degrading rapidly.
• 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea and surface water. This is predicted to rise to around 8 million (one in four) by 2050. Steadily rising sea levels at the UK’s coasts will increase the risk of coastal flooding and exacerbate coastal erosion.
• More than a third of railway and road kilometres are currently at flood risk, a figure that is predicted to rise to around half by 2050. Extreme heat also disrupts infrastructure systems via rail buckling and power line sagging.
• Estimates suggest that unchecked climate change could impact UK economic output by up to 7% of GDP by 2050, creating challenges for driving sustainable long-term growth across the country.
• Heat-related deaths already occur in the thousands each year but could rise several times over to exceed 10,000 in an average year by 2050. This increase is driven by the effect of climate change on a growing aging population, which is increasingly vulnerable to extreme heat.

Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee, said: “We have seen in the last couple of years that the country is not prepared for the impacts of climate change. We know there is worse to come, and we are not ready – indeed in many areas we are not even planning to be ready.

“The threat is greatest for the most vulnerable: we do not have resilient hospitals, schools, or care homes. Public and private institutions alike are unprepared.

“We can see our country changing before our eyes. People are having to cope with more regular extreme weather impacts. People are experiencing increasing food prices. People are worried about vulnerable family members during heatwaves.

“Ineffective and outdated ways of working within Government are holding back the country’s ability to be future-fit. Is this Government going to face up to the reality of our situation? Failing to act will impact every family and every person in the country.”

The Adaptation Committee is required to review the UK’s progress on adaptation every two years. The vast majority of the assessment outcomes for the 2025 report have the same low scores as in 2023.

It recommends four key areas of action to raise the profile of adaptation across government and drive a more effective response to the UK’s changing climate.

These are: improve objectives and targets, improve coordination across government, integrate adaptation into all relevant policies and implement monitoring, evaluation and learning across all sectors.

In response to the report Sam Gould, director of policy and external affairs at the Institution of Civil Engineers, said: “Once again, the Climate Change Committee has said that the government isn’t moving fast enough to adapt the UK’s infrastructure for our changing climate.

“With extreme weather events on the rise, a significant portion of the UK’s agricultural land, rail and road infrastructure, homes and businesses face flood risk. The CCC also predicts that heat-related deaths will rise.

“Postponing action puts infrastructure, businesses, homes, and people at risk. On the other hand, investing now to improve the country’s climate resilience will be cheaper in the long run.

“It will help protect people, homes, businesses and the infrastructure we all rely on, and strategic investment will also have positive economic benefits.

“The ICE echoes the CCC’s call to improve coordination, monitoring, and how targets are set. These are basic measures that could make a real difference.

“Making the Adaptation Reporting Power mandatory for infrastructure owners and operators, as the ICE has recommended, would give the government much needed information to begin prioritising the most pressing needs.

“To make progress, the government must adequately fund adaptation in this year’s Spending Review, or the challenges the country faces will only get worse.”

Click here to read the full report.