The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are to invest £15m (US$18m) as part of the ‘Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC)’ program.
MACC looks at how all four UK nations can better address current barriers around public awareness, policy, legislation and climate data currently hindering the UK’s ability to adapt to the effects of a changing, warming climate. MACC is also helping to deliver the ambitions of UKRI’s ‘Building a green future’ and ‘Building a secure and resilient world’ strategic themes.
Developing long-term solutions
The researchers will work with business, industry and community bodies to develop long-term solutions to extreme weather and other effects of climate change. Restoring wetlands and forests, the effect of climate shocks on food prices and protecting vulnerable people, especially older adults, will all be areas of study.
Professor Louise Heathwaite, Natural Environment Research Council Executive Chair and UKRI Executive Champion for Building a Green Future, posited, “While we look to mitigate further climate change, we must also adapt to what’s happening right now. These new research projects, alongside the hub already up and running, will provide vital insights into how best to manage extreme weather and other effects we already see and feel around us. UKRI’s five strategic themes aim to tackle such large-scale, complex challenges. Working with others, we aim to accelerate the green economy by supporting research and innovation that delivers on national priorities and unlocks solutions essential to achieving net zero in the UK by 2050.”
Researching adaption priorities
The program consists of two strands. The first is a climate change adaptation hub, which will focus on coordination and translation. The second is a collection of six research projects, which will deliver new transdisciplinary knowledge for UK climate adaptation.
The climate change adaptation hub was launched in May 2024, led by Dr Helen Adams of King’s College London (KCL). Its work aims to inform a national climate change adaptation plan by addressing barriers around public awareness, policy, legislation and climate data that might be hindering the UK’s ability to adapt to global warming. These latest innovative research projects will work directly with the hub to ensure valuable knowledge exchange between research and policy.
For example, one of the six projects is (ARCADE) Accelerating Resilience and Climate Adaptation of Domestic Environments For Vulnerable Populations. This project, led by University College London, will look to protect vulnerable people, especially older adults, from heat. It will study how heat affects people in different housing types, like retirement villages and social housing. Currently, experts monitor indoor environments, use computer models and develop tools to assess heat risks and mitigation measures. The project aims to improve decision making and policies to better protect vulnerable populations. It centers on those who are affected and who are so often excluded from the health agenda. It includes homes (in particular, social housing), care homes, extra-care homes, sheltered housing and retirement villages.
Gideon Henderson, chief scientific advisor at Defra, said, “Tackling climate change not only means accelerating progress toward net zero, but also strengthening the resilience of human and natural systems to the changes that a warmer climate brings. Communities across the UK are already being impacted by shifting underlying weather patterns and by increasingly intense and frequent extreme weather; heatwaves, storms, wildfires droughts, flooding and more.
“Projects like those announced today (Jan 22) give us ever better data and insights to help us safeguard our natural environment, protect human health and ensure food security, as we seek to maximize our adaptation to a changing climate.”
In related news, the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) recently secured five years of investment in its environmental science research capabilities through the NERC’s National Capability Single Centre Science and National Public Good initiatives. Click here to read the full story.
