Opportunity to Contribute Evidence to the Climate Change Committee’s Well-Adapted UK Report

Explore the Climate Change Committee's call for evidence to support the UK’s fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4), outlining key adaptation priorities, strategic frameworks, and sector-specific actions for building a resilient, well-adapted UK.

Multiple Authors

July 16, 2025
4 min read

Introduction

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) invites the research community and practitioners to provide evidence on adaptation in the UK.

The CCC has been commissioned by the UK government and devolved administrations to deliver an Independent Assessment of Climate Risk (CCRA4-IA) to inform the government’s fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4). As part of CCRA4-IA, the CCC is developing a new report titled Well Adapted UK (WAUK). In addition to the updated Technical Report, the WAUK report will outline:

the adaptation actions needed to manage key climate risks;
A strategic framework for delivering effective adaptation policy; and
Sector-specific recommendations for building resilience.

Call for evidence

The CCC has created a framework for driving adaptation in the UK – which involves information and guidance on setting ambition, identifying actions, enabling delivery and monitoring progress.

CCC is actively seeking evidence to inform their work on advancing adaptation in the UK, particularly concerning the ‘Identify Actions’, ‘Enable Delivery’, and ‘Monitor Progress’ elements of the framework.

Set ambition: The primary focus is on establishing the foundational understanding and vision for climate adaptation.This involves crucial questions such as how to effectively characterise resilience within specific systems, and what constitutes an affordable and acceptable, quantifiable level of resilience. At a broader, cross-cutting level, they are seeking to define a clear vision for a well-adapted UK, considering the role of normative judgements in this process, and exploring how to enhance fundamental climate risk assessment methodologies.
Identify Actions: A primary area of focus is how to design a flexible and strategic adaptation response that effectively addresses the needs of the most vulnerable populations while also aligning synergistically with broader government priorities. They understand the significant scope of this question and are seeking robust evidence to guide their approach.
Enable Delivery: Work in this area prioritizes understanding how to ensure that adaptation actions receive appropriate financing.
Monitor Progress: This element of the framework aims to address inherent challenges in effectively monitoring adaptation progress, especially given the dynamic nature of climate impacts and shifting baselines. Another aim is to determine how the adaptation response can continuously improve over time in response to emerging data, leading to more dynamic and flexible pathways.

Priority Questions to be Answered in the WAUK Project

Category	WAUK – System-Level Questions	WAUK – Cross-Cutting Questions
1. Set Ambition	– How can we characterise resilience in this system? – What might an affordable and acceptable level of resilience be? Can this be quantified?	– How can we establish a vision for a well-adapted UK? – What is the role of normative judgements in setting a vision? – How can we improve processes for climate risk assessment?
2. Identify Actions	– Which actions are most effective for reducing risks in this system? – How does the efficacy of actions change with different priorities? – What is the level of investment in those actions for the UK to be well-adapted?	– How can we design a flexible and strategic adaptation response which addresses the needs of the most vulnerable and is synergistic with other government priorities?
3. Enable Delivery	– What are the barriers to adaptation actions being deployed? – How can government create a supportive enabling environment for these actions?	– How can we ensure that adaptation actions are appropriately financed? – How can we address challenges in the governance of climate adaptation?
4. Monitor Progress	– What are the key monitoring and evaluation gaps for this system, and how can they be addressed?	– How can progress be better monitored? – How can the adaptation response improve over time in response to emerging data?

CCC invites submissions from diverse organisations and networks who have evidence answer to one or more of these priority questions. Please provide any relevant evidence by including links or copies of journal articles and references with your submission. Evidence and experience can be summarised in policy briefs and explainers published on institutional websites or through working paper series. Kindly note that CCC can only access open-access materials and cannot retrieve content behind paywalls. Submitting evidence as soon as possible is highly beneficial, as CCC’s capacity to incorporate new information will decrease as they transition into the autumn drafting period. However, if you have valuable evidence expected to become available later, please do not hesitate to contact them at WAUKevidence@theccc.org.uk

How to submit

Please send your WAUK submission to WAUKevidence@theccc.org.uk by 29 August 2025

Background: Main outputs of CCRA4

Technical Report

The Technical Report provides a comprehensive review of the published evidence on climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. Its primary objective is to identify key climate risks and to assess the urgency of taking additional action to manage each of these risks. The central question this report seeks to answer is: What are the risks that need to be managed? It forms a critical component of the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) independent assessment to government under CCRA4.

Well-Adapted UK Report

The Well-Adapted UK Report sets out the actions required to address the climate risks identified in the technical report and assesses what is needed to enable effective adaptation across sectors. In addition, the report also explores cross-cutting actions aiming to deliver effective adaptation. It addresses the key question: What actions are needed to manage these risks? Like the technical report, this output is part of the CCC’s independent assessment to government for CCRA4.

It will be comprised of two parts:

Effective risk assessment and action. This will set out a cross-cutting framework for how to deliver effective adaptation within national government programmes around the UK.
Sectoral action to manage risk. Structured around a set of policy-oriented adaptation systems, this will set out evidence-based adaptation goals, objectives, actions and enablers.

Statutory Advice Report

The Statutory advice report delivers independent policy advice to the UK Government. Drawing on the evidence and analysis from the technical and well-adapted UK reports, this report sets out recommendations for policy actions that should be incorporated into the next cycle of national adaptation plans. The question it seeks to answer is: What should government do to ensure these actions are delivered? This report represents the CCC’s Statutory Advice to Government.

Sectoral groupings of CCRA4-IA

These groupings will be used to discuss sectoral evidence in the WAUK report and future progress reports.

Published: July 16, 2025