CIWEM’s response to 'A Well-Adapted UK' report

20 May 2026

The Climate Change Committee’s message in 'A Well-Adapted UK' is stark and impactful – UK understands the risks, but adaptation is not being delivered at the pace or scale needed

In the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest assessment, no sectors were rated as performing well on delivering adaptation outcomes – implying plans and policies may exist, but they are not consistently translating into resilience on the ground.

At the same time, the scale of risk is accelerating. By 2050, up to 92% of homes could overheat, peak river flows could increase by up to 45%, and water supply shortfalls could exceed five billion litres a day. The economic case is equally compelling – climate impacts could reach 1–5% of UK GDP per year (£60–£260bn), compared to around £11bn per year needed to adapt.

Implementation and delivery

The emphasis in the CCC's Fourth Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk (CCRA4-IA) has markedly changed. It’s no longer about just understanding risk – it’s about implementation and delivery. The priority actions are clear: manage heat in buildings and places, strengthen flood resilience, improve and secure the water system and scale Nature-based Solutions (NbS).

That aligns with CIWEM’s focus on the intersection of people, water and land. The risks CCC identified are interconnected: overheating is about how we design places and spaces and improve liveability; flooding is about resilience of people, communities and homes; drought is about how water is managed across catchments. This points to a growing need not just for integrated water management and Nature-based Solutions, but for place-making – where water management supports better more liveable environments.

On flooding, the CCC highlights the need to better protect homes and communities as risks intensify. CIWEM’s BeFloodReady work is about moving from awareness to delivery – supporting capability through a Community of Practice, PFR training and a Specialist Register for PFR Professionals that provides confidence in competence and consistent PFR delivery.

On water, where the CCC points to increasing water scarcity and system stress, our work on the Ofwat-funded Enabling Water Smart Communities (EWSC) project highlights the value of integrated water management – linking the water and housing sectors that manage water and nature as part of a place, or space. The proposed Clean Water Bill could potentially help embed climate adaptation in water policy through catchment-based approaches, resilience planning and NbS.

On Nature-based Solutions, the CCC identifies a major opportunity to manage flood risk, store water and improve resilience through nature recovery. CIWEM is keen to help move NbS from policy ambition into credible, scalable delivery across our catchments, whether these are spongy cities, or spongy landscapes, delivering multiple benefits for water, nature and people.

The opportunity ahead

Underpinning all of this is the delivery gap the CCC repeatedly calls out – the need for skills, standards and coordination. CIWEM’s Policy to Practice approach is focused on this opportunity: translating evidence into guidance, building competence through training, strengthening assurance through registers, and helping convening the sector to accelerate implementation.

The CCC infers there’s a need for strong political leadership to bridge the gap between ambition and action. CIWEM and its members are well placed to help close that gap – acting as a convener and delivery partner to turn national priorities into outcomes.

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You can read the Climate Change Committee’s A Well-Adapted UK report here. You can also read about the latest work from the CIWEM Policy Team, or reach out to us at policy@ciwem.org.

Paul Shaffer is director of projects at CIWEM