Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding (a) in absolute terms and (b) as a proportion of all research funding his Department has provided for research into (i) climate change adaptation and (ii) resilience in the UK in each of the last five years.

Over 2020-2024 UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) invested at least £317 million into research focused on climate change adaption and resilience. This sits within UKRI’s ‘Building a Green Future’ portfolio, which is focused on R&D investment to accelerate the UK’s transition to a secure and prosperous green economy by 2050, totalling £3,948 million over 2020-2024. Total UKRI investment over this period totalled over £30bn. These investments are underpinned by further investments in environmental and social data and modelling, the talent pipeline and support for commercialisation. The most recent review of the Building a Green Future portfolio has been published here: https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/UKRI-07102024-Building-a-Green-Future-UKRI-portfolio-review-2024.pdf

Defra is the lead department for climate adaptation and also invests in a range of research on climate adaptation and resilience.