Surveying the evidence landscape for UK-focused spatial climate risk assessment

1 Background

The Climate Change Committee The Climate Change Committee (CCC) was set up as part of the Climate Change Act. The CCC is an independent body that advises both on reducing emissions in the UK and adapting to the climate changes in the UK.

The CCC's full range of past reports are available here: http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/.

The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment

Under the Climate Change Act 2008 (section 57), an assessment of the risks facing the UK from the current and predicted impact of climate change is required every 5 years. The CCC is responsible for providing independent advice to the UK Government to inform that assessment.

The Committee has recently provided its advice to the UK Government on the risks and opportunities facing the UK from current and future climate change as part of the third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) - this was summarised in its Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk which was published in summer 2021.

The fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4) is due for completion by June 2026. CCRA4 will assess climate change risks to the UK using a more spatially defined approach than previous CCRAs, giving an assessment of the spatial distribution of climate risks across the UK and a more localised view of adaptation needs.

In order to assess climate risks at a spatial scale in CCRA4, the CCC are seeking to identify existing spatial modelling tools, initiatives and datasets that can be used to assess the spatial distribution of climate risks across the economy and the natural environment.

2 Aims and Objectives

The aim of this project is to review the current landscape of spatial modelling of climate risks to the UK. This project will seek to identify existing models capable of UK-wide spatially explicit climate risk assessment within different sectors and ongoing modelling initiatives producing spatially explicit outputs relevant to UK climate risk assessment.

The purpose of this exercise is to understand what tools and existing simulations could be used to inform spatial risk assessment in CCRA4.

**** See specification for more details ****

Additional information: Please note the change in closing date from 5pm on Wednesday 25th January 2023 to 11:59pm 29th January 2023