Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to meet climate change adaptation commitments.

Defra is the lead department for domestic adaptation to climate change, and as such it is responsible for coordinating requirements set out in the UK Climate Change Act 2008. Defra is the owning department for about half of the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) and works closely with the eleven other departments which own the remaining risks.

We are in the process of delivering the third National Adaptation Programme which was published in 2023 and covers how Government will meet the challenges posed by climate change to key sectors including infrastructure, natural environment, health, communities the built environment, business and industry.

We are committed to strengthening the nation’s resilience including by taking steps which:

• Improves governance and monitoring processes
• Translates evidence into action, and
• Assess and strengthen the framework of objectives.

The department is also exploring how to set out stronger objectives to drive action to increase our preparedness for the impacts of climate change up to and beyond the next National Adaptation Programme in 2028.