Resources

UKCIP resources include publications to download in PDF format, covering technical reports on scientific research, guidance on how to adapt your organisation to climate change, and summary documents for decision-makers who need only an overview.

The reports are listed alphabetically by title (below) – you can search each page using your browser search function (usually CTRL+F, or Command+F on a Mac).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

A changing climate for business

June 2010

In July 2005 UKCIP launched the UK’s first report to help business assess the impacts that climate change will have on their operations, and to begin the essential process of adapting to a changing climate. This document was updated in June 2010, and is available to download below.

ACN annual report

Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC) brings together research projects involving existing buildings and infrastructure, including transport and water resource systems in the urban environment. It is a development of Building Knowledge for a Changing Climate (BKCC) and Sustaining Knowledge for a Changing Climate (SKCC). The ARCC Coordinating Network (ACN) was established to help networking between researchers and stakeholders.

Adapting to the new policy landscape

February 2011

The results of a UKCIP online survey offer an interesting picture of how councils responded to the change in context for their work after the removal of performance indicator NI188, and changes in resourcing due to cuts in local government finance

Adapting to climate change: a checklist for development

September 2005

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, launched guidance aimed at developers at the Thames Gateway Forum November 2005 on behalf of the London Climate Change Partnership, South East Climate Change Partnership and East of England Sustainable Development Roundtable. The checklist for development argues the principle that developments should be designed to be adapting to the changing climate throughout their lifetime, and covers water re-use and efficiency, reducing flood risk, avoiding overheating and minimising damage from subsidence and heave.

AdaptME (Adaptation monitoring & evaluation)

September 2011

Organisations who have undertaken adaptation activities now face the challenge of evaluating what worked, what didn’t, how and why. This toolkit will help you to think through an evaluation of your adaptation activities, and equip you to design a robust evaluation.

And the weather today is… (North East)

April 2004

Summary report on the impacts of climate change on the North East of England, including future climate scenarios.

AdOpt (Identifying adaptation options)

April 2007

Guidance on the identification and selection of adaptation options for use in responding to climate risks.

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Gulf Stream): UKCIP briefing note

August 2007

The Atlantic Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an ocean circulation system that carries warm upper waters north and returns cold, deep water south.

Attributes of well-adapting organisations

July 2011

B

Beating the heat: Keeping UK buildings cool in a warming climate

September 2005

Beating the Heat examines climate change impacts by region, building type, form and fabric, and looks at how designers will need to adapt their understanding of building performance to provide thermal comfort in the future, considering both traditional ‘passive’ and mechanical cooling measures.

Building Knowledge for a changing climate: The impacts of climate change on the built environment

February 2003

This report outlines the main ways that climate change could affect our built environment. It also provides details of the six projects funded within the BKCC portfolio and sets them in the context of a wider research agenda.

Building knowledge for a changing climate: Mid-project update 2005

November 2005

BKCC is a portfolio of research projects looking at how climate change will affect different aspects of the built environment. It addresses some of the research needs of decision-makers dealing with buildings, transport and utilities infrastructure in responding to the impacts of a changing climate in the UK. It is promoted jointly by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP).

As most of the projects began in 2003 and are due to finish in 2006, it was thought useful to provide some information, in the form of Briefing Notes, at the half-way stage providing a synopsis of the aims and methodology of each project and indicating some of the expected outcomes and the timetable for dissemination.

Building knowledge for a changing climate: collaborative research to understand and adapt to the impacts of climate change on infrastructure, the built environment and utilities

November 2007

This publication reports results from the portfolio of nine BKCC projects looking at the impact of climate change on urban drainage, engineered slopes, the electricity supply industry, the aviation industry, historic buildings and infrastructure, as well as the urban environment more generally.

A summary of each of the projects is given which provides context, states the objectives, provides an overview of the methodology, highlights the key results and suggests how those results relate to policy and practice.

C

Changing by degrees – The impacts of climate change in the North West of England

December 1998

A study to investigate the impacts of climate change on North West England – technical report.

Climate adaptation: Risk, uncertainty & decision-making

May 2003

Climate adaptation: risk, uncertainty and decision-making provides a step-by-step decision-making framework to help planners, businesses and government assess the risk posed by climate change, and work out how best to respond.

Climate change and London’s transport systems

September 2005

The London Climate Change Partnership has published a new report Climate change and London’s transport systems. The report describes some of the challenges faced by London’s transport systems that will be exacerbated by climate change, explains what is already being done to address them, and what still remains to be done.

Climate change and the historic environment

November 2005

University College London’s Centre for Sustainable Heritage has published a major scoping study on climate change and the historic environment, including historic buildings and standing structures, buried archaeology, parks and gardens.

Climate change and the visitor economy

May 2006

Over the coming decades, climate change will impact on the whole of the North West, with the coast and rural uplands being particularly sensitive. This will affect some of the most popular destinations in the region.

Climate change and UK nature conservation: a review of the impacts of climate change on UK species and habitat conservation policy

2000

This project, funded by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), reviewed the impacts of climate change on biodiversity habitats and species in the UK and offered advice on the implications for UK nature conservation policy. Findings of the study are presented in a report reviewing a multitude of research.

Climate Change: Assessing the impacts – identifying responses. The first three years of the UK Climate Impacts Programme

May 2000

A comprehensive review of the achievements of the UK Climate Impacts Programme 1997–2000.

Costing the impacts of climate change in the UK: Implementation guidelines

June 2004

Costing the impacts of climate change in the UK helps organisations prepare for climate change. As well as introducing a method for valuing the climate change impacts, it also shows how to compare these to the costs of adaptation, so that organisations can work out how much they will need to spend on adapting to climate change.

E

Engaging users in the development and delivery of climate projections: the UKCIP experience of UKCP09

May 2012

This paper examines how UKCIP engaged users in the development of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09), identifying the successes of the approach as well as an appraisal of lessons learned.

G

Gardening in the global greenhouse – the impacts of climate change on gardens

November 2002

A scoping study looking at the impacts of climate change on UK gardens (both domestic and heritage gardens) and on the industry serving the gardening community.

H

Health effects of climate change in the UK 2012

This study from the HPA provides the latest assessment of climate change-related impacts on public health in the UK. It is written with the non-technical reader in mind, with helpful explanatory notes.

Updated 2012

How prepared are you?

July 2003

Information for local authorities on how climate change could affect their services and how they might respond.

Hurricane intensity: UKCIP briefing note

August 2007

Recent research of observational records concluded that the trend of increases in sea surface temperatures and the number of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic have been influenced by climate change.

I

Implications of climate change for Northern Ireland: informing strategy development

June 2002

The study investigated the implications of climate change for Northern Ireland, to provide a knowledge base from which to inform future strategy.

Isle of Man scoping study

2006

The study has helped the Isle of Man Government, representative organisations and individual businesses to identify their priorities for managing climate risks, and provides a framework for further investigations and future decision-making.

L

Living with climate change in the East of England

February 2003

The aim of the report is to provide hard evidence for decision-makers on the expected regional effects of climate change and to identify policies and strategies to deal with the impacts.

LCLIP – A local climate impacts profile

September 2009

LCLIP: is it a changing climate or changing weather events to which local councils must adapt?

London’s Warming – the impacts of climate change on London

November 2002

A report on the threats and opportunities for London arising from climate change and how these can be addressed.

M

Making progress: UKCIP and adaptation in the UK

September 2011

Making progress reviews the work of UKCIP since 2005, looking at its successes and offering insights to what has been learned. It also marks the end of a 14-year relationship with Defra as UKCIP’s major funding partner. The report describes and makes sense of transitions in the UK’s adaptation landscape, and provides a valuable guide for anyone new to adaptation.

Managing adaptation

January 2011

A guidance note that examines key issues to consider when making the transition from awareness to action.

Measuring progress: Preparing for climate change through UKCIP

June 2005

UKCIP’s Measuring progress integrates findings from our studies and so develops a national picture of the impacts of climate change and emerging adaptation options. The aim is to provide information for decision makers who want to know how climate change will affect them and what they can do to prepare for it.

MONARCH – Modelling natural resource responses to climate change

November 2001

The MONARCH programme brought together researchers and stakeholders to study the impacts of climate change on a range of species and habitats. The first report from MONARCH showed how species distribution might look under a changed climate, using plants and animals from land, sea and freshwater environments as examples.

Download smaller pdfs:

Monarch 2 – Modelling natural resource responses to climate change

November 2005

The report of the second phase of the Monarch (Modelling Natural Resource Responses to Climate Change) project is now available, focusing upon four case study areas in Hampshire, Central Highlands, Snowdonia and Cuilcagh and Pettigo in Ireland. Results suggest that the modelled species response in the study areas does not always reflect the predicted bioclimatic sensitivity and while dominant species may be expected to continue to be dominant in the case study areas, losses in climate space for some are predicted in central and eastern England.

Download smaller pdfs:

Monarch 3 – a synthesis for biodiversity conservation

May 2007

The MONARCH synthesis report is the result of a seven-year partnership programme, involving 15 partner organisations across Britain and Ireland, including governmental agencies and NGOs and a research team led by the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.

The final phase of the MONARCH programme studied the projected change in suitable climate for 120 rare or threatened species that are currently being conserved through the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Thirty-two of these were explored in detail and it was found that a majority are likely to be affected by climate change.

O

Objective setting for climate change adaptation policy

December 2005

This Defra-commissioned report sets out a method for setting adaptation policy, to be used to develop adaptation policy objectives for government departments. It includes example targets and indicators in six priority sectors (water resources, flood and coastal risk management, transport, tourism, agriculture and energy).

Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide

January 2010

The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) have produced a briefing note that looks at the effects of changes in ocean uptake of carbon dioxide.

P

Potential adaptation strategies for climate change in Scotland

2001

The report was commissioned to examine potential Scottish opportunities to moderate the adverse impacts of the changing climate and to realise concomitant opportunities.

Potential impacts of climate change in the East Midlands

August 2000

Report on how climate change could affect the East Midlands. Includes future climate scenarios and potential impacts.

Potential impacts of climate change in the West Midlands

December 2003

This study looks at some of the potential impacts of climate change on the West Midlands. It focuses on the potential range of impacts and the possible threats and opportunities these may pose for individuals and organisations, in order to inform an approach to adaptation.

Preparing for a changing climate in Northern Ireland

January 2007

The climate of Northern Ireland is already changing. Air temperature and the number of hot days is increasing; the proportion of rainfall falling in summer is decreasing, while winters are slightly wetter. This report undertakes a risk assessment of climate impacts across 14 sectors, focusing on the impacts on, and the need for adaptation by, the public sector in Northern Ireland.

R

REGIS – Regional climate change impact and response Studies in East Anglia and North West England

May 2001

Technical report on the REGIS project to develop an integrated assessment of climate change impacts on East Anglia and the North West of England.

ReGIS2: Simulating the effects of future climate and socio-economic change in East Anglia and North West England

October 2007

Rising to the challenge: the impacts of climate change in the South East

November 1999

Technical report on the impacts of climate change in South East England in the 21st century, covering coastal management, water supply, emergency planning, agriculture and ecology.

S

Scotland climate change scoping study

1999

This report aims to provide integrated, cross-sectoral information on which to base future strategy for climate impacts research and adaptation in Scotland.

Socio-economic scenarios for climate change impact assessment: A guide to their use in the UK

February 2001

The UKCIP socio-economic scenarios are specifically designed to work with climate scenarios and to provide the type of detail likely to be of use for regional and sectoral studies – technical report.

Strategic environmental assessment and climate change: Guidance for practitioners

June 2007

An explanation of what climate change impacts are, and how they can be described, predicted and addressed in SEA. SEA practitioners are advised to familiarise themselves with the further reading documents mentioned prior carrying out their strategic environmental assessments.

T

The adaptation tipping point: are UK businesses climate proof?

November 2006

This report explores why adaptation is and will become an increasingly important issue for businesses, investors and the financial markets. It focuses on the current understanding by major companies of the risks posed to their business by a changing climate and the adaptation measures undertaken to safeguard assets and operations.

U

UKCP09: Briefing report

June 2009

The Briefing report provides an overview of the range of information in UK Climate Projections (UKCP09), a method of quickly accessing the key results and an insight into the methodology used. UKCP09 is the fifth generation of climate change information for the UK, and its projections are based on a new methodology designed by the Met Office. Climate science and computer modelling have advanced significantly – UKCP09 reflects scientists’ best understanding of how the climate system operates, how it might change in the future, and allows a measure of the uncertainty in future climate projections to be included.

UKCP09: The climate of the United Kingdom and recent trends

Revised January 2009

This was the first in a series of reports under the umbrella of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). It is useful to understand the risks that current climate already poses to individuals, landscapes, organisations and the economy, before moving on to explore future climate risks. This report provides information to support this first step, stimulating better understanding of how the UK’s climate affects our lives.

UKCP09 sea level change estimates: UKCIP briefing note

June 2009

The UKCP09 global mean sea level projections, produced using results from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, gives an estimated range (5th to 95th percentile) for sea level increase of 18–59 cm between present day (assuming a 1980–1999 baseline) and 2090–2099.

UKCIP02: Climate change scenarios for the UK

April 2002

Please note that this report has been superseded by UKCP09

UKCIP02 used results from the Met Office Hadley Centre regional climate model (HadRM3). Model output was for monthly and daily resolution, using 104 x 50 km squares across the UK.

UKCIP98: Climate change scenarios for the United Kingdom

October 1998

Please note that this report has been superseded by UKCP09 and UKCIP02.

This report was based on the results from the second Met Office Hadley Centre global climate model (HadCM2). For the first time, future climate changes were associated with scenarios of future emissions of greenhouse gases, and were shown for 6 x 250 km grid squares.

W

Wales: Changing climate, challenging choices: the impacts of climate change in Wales from 2000 to 2080

May 2000

Assessing the impact of climate change in Wales in the 21st century.

Warmest years globally: UKCIP briefing note

October 2010

Warming to the idea (South West)

January 2003

This report on the South West identifies opportunities and threats from potential impacts of climate change across a range of sectors. It focusses on the region’s natural environment, society and infrastructure, and the economy.

Warming up the region (Yorkshire & Humber)

May 2002

This report identifies the potential impacts of climate change for Yorkshire and the Humber – technical report.

Weathering the storm (Yorkshire & Humber)

2009

The study assesses future climate change in the Yorkshire & Humber region to 2050, and is an update on the 2002 report.

Working today for nature tomorrow (MarClim)

December 2005

The MarClim project examined how climate change may influence patterns of biodiversity in the marine environment. This latest report, published by English Nature and aimed at marine stakeholders, demonstrates the value and necessity of long-term data sets, the benefits of a consortium approach with a broad geographic coverage, development of indicators for marine and coastal biodiversity and how marine climate change can be factored into day-to-day business activities.

Y

Your home in a changing climate

February 2008

This report looks at the impacts of climate change on existing housing stock in the Three Regions (South East, East of England and London), and suggests adaptation options.