The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published its sixth report on Adaptation, Impacts and Vulnerability.
The report singles out cities – which house more than half the world’s population – as ‘specific hotspots of impacts and risks’ to people, property and infrastructure.
Much greater investment in adaptation measures must be prioritised in urban areas, and that nature itself offers huge potential to reduce climate risks and improve people’s lives.
UKGBC’s Chief Executive Officer Julie Hirigoyen said: “This report is yet another dire warning that climate change is here, now, and that urgent action is required from governments, business and civil society to deal with increasing risks. The window of opportunity to take action is closing, and we are in an emergency heading for disaster.
“Indeed, this report goes further than any previous IPCC Reports in linking human health and wellbeing with climate and biodiversity outcomes – highlighting that the communities least able to cope are being hit hardest. We can see this unfolding in the UK as low-income households are disproportionately affected by fuel poverty, overheating and flooding precisely because they lack the capacity to invest in improvements to their homes.
“Equally, with 25% of the UK’s total carbon emissions directly attributed to the built environment, our sector has a significant role to play in decarbonisation. Emission reduction commitments aren’t enough, action is now critical. We must go further and faster, immediately.
“The UK Government must show clear leadership and embed ambitious climate and adaptation action across all its flagship policies, from planning reform and tougher building regulations to home retrofit incentives and ‘levelling-up.”
Emma Cox, global climate leader at PwC, said the latest report shows that the impacts of climate change are far worse than expected and efforts around adaptation and building resilience are falling short.
“Finance for adaptation is woefully trailing finance for mitigation,” she continued. “At COP26, Governments committed to doubling their financial contributions for adaptation (against 2019 levels) by 2025, in an effort to secure greater parity between adaptation and mitigation. But this is still far short of the $70bn in adaptation costs countries are facing today.
“The IPCC’s latest findings warn us that we need to invest more heavily in measures to manage the impacts of climate on our homes, businesses, infrastructure, communities and livelihoods. And that every fraction of a degree of warming we fail to avoid will result in the exponential increase in costs and damage we will face.
“As well as action to reach net zero, it’s imperative that we accelerate work to enhance adaptation and build resilience globally to manage the impacts of climate already locked in.”
