Climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58248/HS120

Overview

Contributors to the horizon scan raised concerns that the cost and financing needed to adapt to the climate change will become a major factor shaping public policy finances and decisions. They stated there is increasing evidence that climate change is increasing the frequency and impacts of extreme weather events (heat extremes, wildfires (PN717), droughts, marine heatwaves, heavy precipitation, flooding, high-tide flooding, tropical cyclones).[1][2][3][4][5][6] The Climate Change Committee will deliver the fourth climate change risk assessment in 2026.[7]

Due to the low number of contributions to the horizon scan on this subject, and given overlap with other articles in this category, POST has not drafted an article for this topic. Instead, the main opportunities and challenges identified by contributors are briefly summarised below:

• Developing strategies to finance adaptation now for the climate changes that are occurring currently while also initiating long-term (>100-years) adaptation planning and pathways, with clear mechanisms to support adaptation implementation.[8]
• Climate adaptation to heat and the possible health impacts on the UK population,[9][10] including in settings such as care homes.[11][12]
• Preparing for the impacts of extreme weather events such as extreme rainfall and flooding, to increase the resilience of critical infrastructure, public health and economic activities to these risks.[13]
• Taking account of equality in climate actions,[14] including health inequalities. For example, integrating health and climate actions can minimise maladaptation and maximise efficient allocation of resources (PN701).[15][16][17][18]
• Integrating climate and nature recovery actions,[19][20][21] which requires understanding the impacts of future climate scenarios on biodiversity (PN 679).[22] For example, implementing renewable energy infrastructure will have land use implications,[23][24] but could be deployed and managed to mitigate any ecological impacts or to deliver gains.[25][26][27][28][29][30]
• Building institutional capacity to implement adaptation measures, such as the capacity of local government to develop local and regional strategies as well as co-creation processes with local communities to develop climate adaptation ideas and practical solutions.[31][32][33]
• Contributors raised concerns that landfill sites located at and near the coast pose a growing risk to the environment from the potential release of liquid and solid waste material with rising sea levels.[34][35][36][37]
• Environmental monitoring can inform disaster management in real-time and can inform preparations in advance or even prevent disasters from happening, such as logistics deployment and analysis of warning sensors/communications.[38][39][40][41][42][43] Indicators can also be developed to estimate the effectiveness of the hazard mitigation strategies and resilience to determine whether a community has increased or decreased its vulnerability to natural hazards,[44][45][46] such as through implementing nature-based solutions.[47]
• Adapting to changes in water availability, particularly the water supply and wastewater systems. Climate and population scenarios suggest deficits in some areas of the UK (PB40).[13]
• The risks of allowing GHG emissions exceeding climate targets and relying on unproven Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies to remove emissions directly from the atmosphere (PN726, PN 713).[48][49][50] Contributors also raised justice issues that arise for climate mitigation and adaptation at the international scale, including exceeding emissions targets disproportionately affecting poorer countries.[51]

References

[1] IPCC. (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

[2] Sokhi, R. et al. (2021). Changes in extreme events over Asia for present and future climate conditions based on a modelling analysis of atmospheric circulation anomalies. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Volume 146, pages 689–711

[3] McSweeney, R. et al. (2024). Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world. CarbonBrief

[4] WMO. Extreme Weather.

[5] European Environment Agency. (2024). Extreme weather: floods, droughts and heatwaves.

[6] Poynting, M., et al. (2024). How climate change worsens heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods. BBC

[7] Climate Change Committee. (2024). Proposed methodology for the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment – Independent Assessment.

[8] Falcone, G., et al. (2025). Green Recovery Dialogues: From COVID19 to COP26 Glasgow: Centre of Sustainable Solutions (University of Glasgow).

[9] Lüthi, S., et al. (2023). Rapid increase in the risk of heat-related mortality. Nature Communications volume 14, Article number: 4894

[10] Environmental Audit Committee. (2024). Heat resilience and sustainable cooling.  Fifth Report of Session 2023–24

[11] Gupta, R., et al. (2021) Monitoring and modelling the risk of summertime overheating and passive solutions to avoid active cooling in London care homes. Energy and Buildings 252, 111418

[12] Gupta R, et al. (2021) Examining the magnitude and perception of summertime overheating in London care homes. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology 42 (6) pp.653-675

[13] UK Climate Risk. Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk

[14] Filho, W., et al. (2023). The central role of climate action in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 20582

[15] Centre for Alternative Technology. Rising to the Climate Emergency.

[16] Muccione, V., et al. (2024). Towards a more integrated research framework for heat-related health risks and adaptation. The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 8, Issue 1e61-e67.

[17] Rayner, T., et al. (2025). Advancing and Integrating Climate and Health Policies in the United Kingdom: Insights from National Stakeholders. University of East Anglia and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

[18] Davies, M., et al. (2025). The PAICE project: Integrating health and health equity into UK climate change policy. Wellcome Open Research

[19] Pörtner, H., et al. (2021). Scientific outcome of the IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change; IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany, DOI:10.5281/zenodo.4659158.

[20] Science Based Targets Network

[21] Dasgupta, P. (2021). The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review. Abridged Version

[22] Condon, D., et al. (2025). Practitioners’ perceived risks to biodiversity from renewable energy expansion through 2050. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume 12, Article number: 263

[23] Wang, J., et al. (2025). Biodiversity Impacts of Land Occupation for Renewable Energy Infrastructure in a Globally Connected World. Environ. Sci. Technol.

[24] Ferreras-Alonso, N. (2024). Mitigation of land-related impacts of solar deployment in the European Union through land planning policies. Energy, Volume 302, 131617

[25] Randle-Boggis, R., et al. (2020). Realising co-benefits for natural capital and ecosystem services from solar parks: A co-developed, evidence-based approach.  Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 125, 109775

[26] Blaydes, H. et al. (2021). Opportunities to enhance pollinator biodiversity in solar parks.  Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 145, 111065

[27] Armstrong, A. et al. (2021). Honeybee pollination benefits could inform solar park business cases, planning decisions and environmental sustainability targets. Biological Conservation, Volume 263, 109332

[28] Hooper, T. et al. (2021). Environmental impacts and benefits of marine floating solar. Solar Energy Volume 219, Pages 11-14

[29] Rehbein, J. et al. (2020). Renewable energy development threatens many globally important biodiversity areas. Global Change Biology, Volume 26, Issue 5 p. 3040-3051

[30] Creutzig, F., et al. (2024). Demand-side strategies key for mitigating material impacts of energy transitions. Nature Climate Change, volume 14, pages 561–572

[31] European Urban Initiative. Capacity-building for cities.

[32] OECD. (2025). A place-based approach to climate action and resilience. OECD Net Zero+ Policy Papers, No. 8, OECD Publishing

[33] World Bank Group. Leveraging Capacity Building and Partnerships to Maximize Impact

[34] Nicholls, R. et al. (2021). Coastal Landfills and Rising Sea Levels: A Challenge for the 21st Century.  Front. Mar. Sci., Volume 8

[35] Holmes, C. (2023). Coastal Erosion and Landfill Exposure: Future Impacts of Climate Change. Groundsure

[36] Robbins, K., et al. (2023). Investigating the impact of landfill sites at the coast on Marine Protected Area features in Wales. NRW Evidence Report 673

[37] Brand, J. et al. (2023). Potential pollution risks of historic landfills in England: Further analysis of climate change impacts. WIREs WATER

[38] WMO. Early warning system

[39] Jaworska, A. (2024). Leveraging environmental monitoring for effective disaster management. Meteory

[40] Fakhruddin, B. et al. (2022). Harnessing risk-informed data for disaster and climate resilience. Progress in Disaster Science, Volume 16,100254

[41] Karne, V., et al. (2021). Enhancing Environmental Monitoring and Disaster Prediction with AI. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technologies and Innovations, Vol. 1, No. 3

[42] Olawade, D., et al. (2024). Artificial intelligence in environmental monitoring: Advancements, challenges, and future directions. Hygiene and Environmental Health Advances, Volume 12, 100114

[43] Albahri, A. et al. (2024). A systematic review of trustworthy artificial intelligence applications in natural disasters. Computers and Electrical Engineering, Volume 118, Part B, 109409

[44] Laurien, F. et al. (2022). Climate and disaster resilience measurement: Persistent gaps in multiple hazards, methods, and practicability. Climate Risk Management, Volume 37, 100443

[45] Eklund, G., et al. (2023). Exploring an approach for monitoring the implementation of the European Union’s disaster resilience goals, EUR 31467 EN

[46] UNDRR. Climate Action and disaster risk reduction.

[47] UNDRR. (2020). Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction: Implementing Nature-based Solutions for Resilience. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

[48] Carton, W. et al. (2023). Is carbon removal delaying emission reductions? WIRES Climate Change, Volume 14, Issue 4, e826

[49] Sovacool, B. (2021). Reckless or righteous? Reviewing the sociotechnical benefits and risks of climate change geoengineering. Energy Strategy Reviews, Volume 35, 100656

[50] The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. (2018). Greenhouse gas removal

[51] Jackson T. (2021). Zero Carbon Sooner—Revised case for an early zero carbon target for the UK. CUSP Working Paper No 29. Guildford: University of Surrey.

Photo by: Neil Howard, via Flickr