The UK could take lessons on climate prep from Bangladesh

It might feel surprising that a rich country like the UK is so unready for the challenge. We often hear about adaptation— changes in processes and structures to cope with the current and future impact of the climate crisis—in relation to developing nations whose vulnerable populations will bear the brunt of change, such as extreme weather events becoming more frequent. But Lisa Schipper, professor of developmental geography at the University of Bonn, warns against that. “Many people in the global north have been painted a picture in which climate disasters happen in poor countries,” she told me. That’s led to a complacency that we’re perhaps just waking up from.

Poorer nations have had a clearer focus on adaptation for longer. In response to Germany’s catastrophic floods in 2021, which killed 196 people, Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, wrote an op-ed explaining how rich nations could learn from his home country. Though regularly struck by cyclones and floods, Bangladesh invested in minimizing the loss of human lives when disasters strike and now boasts “one of the best disaster warning systems, with evacuation plans and shelters.” That’s not to say developing countries don’t need more help with sustainable development, or that the UK is uniquely ill-prepared in the rich world. As the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report summarized, policy gaps are holding back climate resilience everywhere. While investment in adaptation measures is increasing, it still represents a small portion of total green finance and is insufficient for the huge task at hand. It’s also being held back by the very problems we’re trying to cope with. As losses pile up, more money is directed at repairing the damage than safeguarding the future.

The UK’s situation is serious. The heatwave in summer 2022 contributed to wildfires, a prolonged drought and the highest rate of heat-related excess mortality that England has ever seen. It also demonstrated the risk of cascading impacts, when extreme temperatures caused two data centres— back ups of each other—to fail. That, in turn, took down most of the clinical IT systems at several London hospitals and community services, causing widespread disruption to patient care. The country has also already been affected by changing conditions elsewhere: Unseasonably cold weather in Spain led to salad shortages in the UK just a few weeks ago. Worryingly, what we’re currently witnessing is just the start. “Every increment of temperature brings escalating effects and the temperature won’t stop rising until we hit net zero,” Julia King, chair of the CCC’s adaptation committee, said in a press conference. We face roughly three more decades of increasing climate risks. It won’t be long before exceeding 40° C in the summer becomes somewhat normal.

King refers to a “lost decade” in preparing for and adapting to known risks. Public spending in the UK has been low for years now, meaning that infrastructure and services are outdated and vulnerable. A government plan to boost energy investment and accelerate the deployment of renewable power contained little new spending.

Globally, marginalized groups suffer the most. Schipper emphasizes that equality has to be at the heart of all adaptation plans, or else you’ll only help a small section of people, and possibly make things worse for others. A study in Bangladesh, for example, found that eliminating floodplains protected male livelihoods, but cut off food and economic opportunities for poor, landless women. People in the UK are largely aware of risks—many live on floodplains or in houses that overheat—and are seeking a response, according to Chris Stark, CCC’s chief. The CCC recommends cross-governmental structures to ensure all-round adaptation.

Research shows that the best measures are transformational rather than incremental. Done well, you can solve other issues with adaptation. Including trees in urban design, for example, can reduce the risk of flooding, help keep cities cool, improve well-being and health and reduce air pollution. That beats making flood barriers a bit higher.

The British government is set to publish its third national adaptation programme in mid-2023. Let’s hope it takes the CCC’s recommendations to heart, and learns from the experiences of those poorer countries that have been compelled by circumstances to become exemplars.

©bloomberg