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Local government and adaptation

Adapting to climate change

Councils have three functions that will be individually and collectively affected by the impacts of climate change:

  1. As a service provider: local authorities (LAs), as service providers to the public, are exposed to the impacts of climate change in areas such as buildings, transport, commerce, healthcare, infrastructure, planning, natural resource management, water and sewage services.
  2. As a community leader: LAs are well placed to take the lead on climate change at the local level, offering guidance and advice, facilitating partnerships and fostering public engagement and adaptive actions.
  3. As an estate manager: councils are employers with physical assets (for example premises); climate-change impacts are likely to affect the working conditions of a council’s staff as well as its premises.

NI 188 Adapting to Climate Change - performance indicator

For the first time, the Local Government Performance Framework includes a performance indicator, NI 188, against which all LAs in England and Wales will have to report on their progress.

Given that adapting to climate change will be a continuous process, NI 188 allows LAs and their partners to measure their progress in adapting to climate change over four levels (PDF):

  1. Comprehensively assessing both the risks and opportunities across an area.
  2. Taking action in any identified priority areas, preferably showing evidence of having put in place mechanisms to proactively manage climate risks.
  3. Developing an adaptation strategy and action plan that sets out the risk assessment, identifies where the priority areas are and what action is being taken to address them, as well as highlighting what steps will be taken to monitor and assess risks continuously in the future.
  4. Implementing, assessing and monitoring the actions on an ongoing basis.

By introducing NI188, adaptation has firmly been established as a key area for local government action. To support LAs in their effort to progress, the Government has set up a Local and Regional Climate Change Adaptation Board, which includes representatives from regional and local bodies to offer targeted support.

Local Climate Impacts Profile

The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) has developed a tool - the Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) - to enable LAs to understand how their council services have been affected by past weather events and learn from the experience, to establish critical thresholds and to proactively adapt to a future climate.

Statutory guidance

The Climate Change Act 2008 gives the Government the power to produce statutory guidance on adaptation. In summer 2009, the Government will consult on draft guidance. This guidance is likely to set out the processes that organisations need to follow to assess the risks from climate change and draw up adaptation plans. It is primarily aimed at public-sector organisations such as LAs. According to Defra, the guidance is likely to include:

  • background and national policy on adaptation to climate change
  • general sources of advice and information, for example from UKCIP and the Environment Agency
  • information on assessing risks and vulnerabilities, developing possible adaptation responses and evaluating progress
  • details about the expected scope of the report
  • the principles of sustainable development and the need to take into account risks and opportunities from climate change for the natural environment, and for social and economic wellbeing.

Relevant policy, legislation and standards

All of the information noted above increases the duty of local government to act. Failure to do so may result in claims for breach of statutory duties and claims at common law of nuisance and negligence.

Negotiations over the cost of infrastructure building, maintenance and operation will need to factor in the decreased lifespan of that infrastructure and the increased cost of construction and maintenance. If not done, councils will be left with a hefty bill to fund themselves.

Civil Contingencies Act 2004

  • LAs have a responsibility to undertake local risk assessments taking a multi-agency approach. This could take place via the Local Resilience Forum to plan for emergencies, including extreme weather events.
  • Following the risk assessments, LAs have to produce actions plans on how to reduce the impacts of these risks.
  • LAs have an obligation to deliver business continuity plans for the local area, covering a variety of threats including extreme weather events.

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