Britain unprepared for extreme weather, warns report
Study warns of a 'domino effect' threat from climate change as one infrastructure failure can cause a cascade.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and UK Infrastructure Operators Adaptation Forum says the UK must rethink how it protects the essential services millions of people rely on as climate change brings more frequent, severe and unpredictable extreme weather.
The IMechE report Preparing the UK for More Extreme Weather cites examples such as heatwaves reducing power capacity, while increasing cooling demand, resulting in power failures that can impact other sectors like communications, digital services, food supply and healthcare.
However, it claims much of the UK’s infrastructure is still designed around individual hazards, leaving it vulnerable.
Recommendations include:
- Stress-test new and existing infrastructure against plausible future extremes, including combinations of heat, flooding, drought and storms.
- Perform regular cross-sector exercises to test how failures could cascade across energy, water, transport, food, healthcare and telecommunications.
- Map critical dependencies on power, water, digital systems, transport, suppliers and the workforce, and remove single points of failure where possible. The NHS has already used systems mapping to identify and adapt to possible climate risks.
- Invest in climate resilience measures before extreme weather causes failures, rather than waiting for disasters to demonstrate the need.
- Design major infrastructure, so it can be strengthened or modified with changing climate risks, with clear triggers for action. The Thames Estuary 2100 plan shows how this can work, using monitoring and decision points to determine when further flood protection is needed.
The report also urges climate adaptation to be made a national security priority by transferring responsibility for protecting Britain's critical infrastructure to the Cabinet Office.
