Major UK climate change impacts report

18 June 2009

A major new report outlining how the UK's climate is expected to change during the 21st century is due to be published on Thursday 18 June 2009.

The study (UKCIP09) by the DEFRA-funded UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) will use advances in climate science to predict the likely impact of climate change on the UK.[1].

The new research will update a 2002 study (UKCIP02) [2] which concluded that Wales will continue to get warmer - with hotter and drier summers and milder and wetter winters - and sea levels will continue to rise.

Friends of the Earth Cymru says that the research will further highlight the need for urgent action to slash emissions of climate changing gases. The campaign organisation will be launching a major campaign soon with its local group network urging local authorities to play a fuller part in tackling climate change.

Friends of the Earth Cymru Director, Gordon James, said:

"This valuable new research will highlight the damaging impact that climate change will have on Wales and show the need for urgent action to cut emissions.

"We expect it to predict an increase in extremes of weather, such as more intense rainfall and flooding, heat waves and droughts, and more storms. It will be more a case of global storming rather than global warming.

"Although the UK and Welsh Assembly Governments are adopting a number of welcome policies in response to climate change, scientific research shows that tougher action must be taken if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences.[3] This year in particular, governments must show real leadership by example ahead of crucial climate negotiations at Copenhagen in December [4].

"But it's not just national Government that must act. Soon, Friends of the Earth Cymru will be launching a new campaign to urge local authorities to play their part. Investing in solutions such as cutting energy waste, boosting renewable power and green transport will cut emissions, create thousands of green jobs and help secure a cleaner and safer future for us all."

NOTES

1.It will include detailed climate projections for this century for the UK (in 25 x 25 km squares) using a range of emission scenarios (low, medium and high). It will also include projections of sea level rise and storm surge frequency around the coast. Maps and graphs will illustrate the future changing climate. A "weather generator" will show day-by-day projections of the average future climate of the UK.

2. The 2002 UKCIP study can be found at

http://www.ukcip.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=237&Itemid=331

3. The Welsh Assembly Government has, for instance, adopted a target of cutting Wales' greenhouse gas emissions, within areas of devolved power, by three per cent a year from 2011. An adviser to the Assembly Government, Professor Kevin Anderson of the world-renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Manchester University, has stated that industrial countries need to make cuts of more than double this figure.

4. The UN Climate Change Conference, from December 7 to 18th this year at Copenhagen, will attempt to agree a strong international agreement to succeed the Kyoto protocol. Some are calling it the most important conference ever.