BE24104 - Adapting UK's Farmed Landscape LAN Deep Dive

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. Our purpose is to advise the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and to report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 requires that every five years, the UK government must publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). The CCRA seeks to provide an authoritative and up-to-date assessment of the risks and opportunities facing the UK from climate change. The Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4) Government Report is due to be published in January 2027. As with CCRA2 and CCRA3 it will be based on an Independent Assessment that the CCC has been commissioned by Defra to lead; this will be published in mid-2026.

As part of CCRA4, the CCC will be developing a new output to complement the Technical Report. This output - to be known as the 'Well-adapted UK report'- will aim to set out a vision of what a well-adapted UK could look like, and the investment requirements to reach it. This will go on to support the development of effective actions in the next set of national adaptation programmes from governments across the UK.

The 'Well-adapted UK' report will be informed by a set of commissioned, bespoke analysis projects, in-house CCC analysis and wider external evidence. The proposal outlined below will form one of the commissioned projects to inform this report.

We expect this analysis to go out to tender in May 2024 and is due to be completed by summer 2025, to feed into CCRA4 in 2026.

Potential project

This piece of analysis will look to explore climate risk and adaptation in the UK's farmed landscapes with a focus on the adaptation interventions that can reduce climate risks to these landscapes, whilst also providing wider ecosystem and societal benefits.

As farmed land covers over 70% of the UK and produces around 50% of food that we eat, adaptation on farmland represents an important element of ensuring the UK's is resilient under a changing climate. However, there remains a lack of analysis - at a national and local scale - that explores the cost and effectiveness of adaptation interventions within farmed landscapes that will address climate risks to food production and support nature targets, whilst also providing wider ecosystem and societal benefits.

Please find attached document for further details on this potential requirement and link to a questionnaire for feedback.