Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050

The UK must be prepared to cope with the extreme weather caused by global warming of at least 2 degrees by 2050, independent climate consultants have said.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) wrote in a letter to the government that the country has “yet to adapt” to the worsening extreme weather conditions already occurring at current warming levels, “let alone” the expected warming.

The committee said they would recommend the UK prepare for climate change beyond the long-term temperature target set in the Paris Agreement.

The CCC said they had been asked to advise on a timeframe for setting adaptation scenarios based on “minimum climate scenarios”.

Reaching “net zero” is the world’s key goal in tackling climate change, and climate scientists agree it is already having a significant impact around the world.

The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, committing almost 200 countries to work to prevent global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

As the CCC notes in its letter, a 2C level of global warming would have a significant impact on the UK’s weather, with extreme events becoming more frequent and widespread.

They said increased heatwaves, droughts and floods could be expected in the UK, and the bushfire season was likely to extend into the autumn.

Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC’s adaptation committee, said: “People in the UK are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate and we owe it to them to prepare and help them prepare as well.

“Adaptation in the UK is not keeping pace with the rise in climate risk. Impacts on the UK are getting worse and (the government) needs more ambition,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

The president also slammed Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who has vowed to scrap Britain’s groundbreaking climate change legislation and replace it with a “cheap and reliable” energy strategy.

Baroness Brown described the remark as “disappointing” and said the Conservative leader hoped it would “reflect the fact that the law covers both adaptation and mitigation”.

The UK is already facing changing weather conditions due to climate change; Four official heatwaves have been confirmed in 2025, which the Met Office says will be the hottest summer on record.

Summer is 70 times more likely to be warmer or hotter by 2025 than in a “natural” climate without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, Met Office climate scientists have found.