A Well-Adapted UK Climate Change Committee Report, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)

In this Month's Newsletter:

• A Well-Adapted UK report has been released

  • The Climate Change Committee identifies 8 achievable targets against climate related risks

• Thea Sletten presents two papers at SETAC 2026 

  • The papers cover a framework for a cap & trade system and economic valuation for water-policy decisions

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A Well-Adapted UK report has been released

The Climate Change Committee identifies 8 achievable targets against climate related risks

The Climate Change Committee is the UK’s statutory scrutiny and advice body set up by the 2008 Climate Change Act. One of its duties is to publish the Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years. The latest was published on 21st May, and sets out climate risks, actions, and enablers across 14 key systems including health, land, and the economy, and the linkages between them.  

The Committee identified the 8 risks and targets listed below. The linking of risks to targets is a welcome addition to previous reports and should help visualise what a well-adapted UK could look like. Their message is clear: A well-adapted UK is necessary, achievable, and urgent.

The risks and targets are:

1. Risks to the lives of vulnerable people from extreme heat. By 2050, excess heat-related mortality should be no greater, and ideally lower, than today’s annual average.

2. Risks of damage, disruption, and deaths from flooding. By 2050, the total number of residential properties impacted by flooding in the UK from all sources should remain no greater than today’s level. Levels of risk should be below today’s level in all parts of the UK where this is technically feasible and cost-effective.

3. Risks to water availability from drought. By 2040, water supply should be resilient to a 1 in 500-year drought.

4. Risks to the state of nature. By 2030, 30% of land should be protected for nature and by 2050 should be in good condition.

5. Risks to the viability of farming. From now through to 2050, domestic food production as a share of food consumed should be sustainably maintained at 60% at least.

6. Risks of food insecurity and inflation. From now through to 2050, the impact of climate-related food price inflation on household budgets should be minimised.

7. Risks to the availability of insurance. From now through to 2050, the UK insurance protection gap should not grow due to climate change.

8. Risks of cascading impacts on infrastructure. From now through to 2050, critical infrastructure systems should continue to deliver reliable services and recover quickly from any disruption.

Our Ian Dickie, a Director of eftec and a member of the CCC’s Adaptation Committee, also focused on a vision of a well-adapted UK, when he reflected on the report: 

“An incredible consolidation of knowledge from the UK's amazing scientists into publicly accessible graphics. As a society we should appreciate we are lucky to have this trustworthy independent information to use to adapt to inevitable climate change.

The challenge is to find the right way to imagine the future - Would hosting the Olympics in the North of England in 2040 be feasible in the expected climate? What will the climate be like when current schoolchildren retire? Will society have taken adaptation steps, or will it regret missing the opportunities that were signposted?”

The UK Government will consider the CCC’s advice and to lay a Climate Change Risk Assessment before Parliament by January 2027. They and the devolved governments will then respond with their national adaptation plans. 

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Thea Sletten presents two papers at SETAC 2026 

The papers cover a framework for a cap & trade system and economic valuation for water-policy decisions

Thea Sletten, eftec’s Director of Chemicals Policy, presented two posters at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry’s (SETAC) 36th annual conference. SETAC is a worldwide network of approx. 10,000 members across environmental science and management. Reflecting on the event, Thea said:

“SETAC provides a genuinely multidisciplinary space where environmental science, policy and practice come together. Participating in this dialogue is important for understanding how scientific evidence is interpreted and used, and for contributing economic perspectives that help translate that science into more effective and practical policy decisions.”

Thea presented a joint poster with UKCEH on exploring how relative risk indicators can be used to design a cap-and-trade system to regulate chemical uses. Relative risk indicators incorporate relative eco-potency and exposure of chemicals which such a system needs to differentiate for effective and efficient design.

For more information about the ENRICH framework, see our project summary page.

She also presented our project that estimates the economic value of changes in quality of our water environment due to different pressures, including the presence of chemicals. Using a stated preference choice experiment (sample of 6,500 respondents), results show high willingness to pay for water quality, with stronger preferences for avoiding deterioration than for improvements post-deterioration.

For more information about our chemicals policy work, please visit our website.