UK Must Adapt to ‘At Least 2°C’ Warming by 2050, Government Told

The UK must immediately begin preparations to cope with extreme weather resulting from at least 2°C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have warned the government in a new letter.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) stated that the country is “not yet adapted” to worsening weather extremes already occurring, “let alone” the greater impacts expected over the next few decades.

The committee, which advises the government on climate policy, stressed that “prudent risk management” requires the UK to plan for temperature rises beyond the 1.5°C long-term goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The CCC warned that a global warming level of 2°C would significantly impact the UK’s weather, making extreme events more frequent and widespread. The country can expect:

• Increased heatwaves and droughts.
• More flooding.
• Wildfire season extending into autumn.

The urgency of the warning is underscored by the Met Office confirming that the summer of 2025 was the hottest on record for the UK, with four official heatwaves. Climate scientists estimate a summer this hot is now 70 times more likely than it would have been without human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

In its letter to the government, the CCC, which was asked to provide advice on minimum adaptation scenarios, urged ministers to set a framework of “clear long-term objectives” for climate resilience. This framework must include new targets every five years, with government departments held “clearly accountable” for their delivery.

Baroness Brown, chairwoman of the CCC’s adaptation committee, emphasised the critical need for a new focus: “People in the UK are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, and we owe it to them to prepare, and also to help them prepare.”

“We need to see Government treating adaptation with the same urgency that we have been able to treat cutting emissions,” she told PA Media.

The committee’s advice follows a critical report released in April this year, which found that the UK’s preparations for rising temperatures were “either too slow, has stalled, or is heading in the wrong direction.”

Baroness Brown also directed criticism at Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who recently pledged to scrap the UK’s landmark Climate Change legislation and replace it with a strategy focused on “cheap and reliable” energy.

The chairwoman called the promise “disappointing” and urged the leader to “reflect on the fact that the act covers both adaption and mitigation.”

The CCC is set to release a major report in May 2026 outlining detailed strategies and “trade offs” for how the UK can adapt to the worsening climate.