Question

To ask the President of COP26, what steps he is taking as COP President to focus UK climate adaptation on flooding and coastal defences as part of the COP26 adaptation and resilience agenda.

In July 2020, the government published a Long-Term Policy Statement which sets out our ambition to make the UK more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. The Policy Statement includes five policies and over 40 supporting actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion.

The government is investing a record £5.2 billion to build 2,000 new flood defences over the next 6 years which will better protect 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. Long-term investment decisions should follow an adaptive approach which takes account of climate and demographic change over time to enable decision makers to identify the best combination of resilience actions and the right time to act and invest.

We are also investing an additional £200 million to further explore actions that will improve the resilience of communities at risk of flooding and coastal change.