Are you prepared for a changing climate?
The UK government has mandated new climate change risk planning for organisations operating under an Environmental Permit. Those permitted from 1 April 2023 must integrate a climate adaptation plan into management systems. Organisations permitted earlier need to complete a climate risk assessment by 1 April 2024.
The regulations come as climate projections show more extreme weather – higher temperatures, increased heatwaves, rising sea levels, altered rainfall patterns and more storms. Organisations must consider how these climate impacts could affect operations and regulatory compliance.
Adaptation plans should address negative climate impacts on current and future net zero transitions, including risks to communities and the environment. Planning for concurrent events like supply chain disruption and extreme weather is also stipulated. Operations should be resilient to at least 2°C of warming by 2050, with assessments of requirements for 4°C by 2100, via regular climate reviews.
To minimise risks, organisations need to regularly test climate actions, policies, procedures and assessments, revising as new information emerges.
The Environment Agency will shortly be contacting all Permit holders to inform them of the requirement to have these in place.
WRM can provide technical guidance on how to successfully implement these measures aligned to the ISO 14090:2019 and ISO 14091:2021 standards.
