WIREDGOV

EXPERT COMMENT

The UK government should treat adaptation to the effects of climate change as a core organizing principle of both economic policy at home and foreign policy.

Europe is burning. So are parts of North Africa. After an early summer marked by record-breaking heatwaves closed schools, disrupted transport and claimed thousands of lives, wildfires have swept across Europe and are increasingly affecting parts of North Africa. Devastating blazes prompted Spain to declare a national emergency in the Madrid region. France has invoked help from the EU civil protection mechanism to face its worst fires in two decades. 

The UK is also in the grip of a ‘firewave’, with fires affecting landscapes from the Cairngorms to the Suffolk coast, where a major incident forced the evacuation of a holiday park. Nearly half of England is facing an ‘exceptionally serious’ drought, which could severely undermine emergency response against the fires.

These events expose a growing gap in climate policy. Most governments continue to focus – rightly – on reducing emissions. But they are only beginning to grapple with a second challenge of ‘adaptation’: that is, how to make their societies resilient in the face of unavoidable climate impacts. 

If this summer marks anything, it should be the moment that adaptation moves from the margins of environmental policy to the centre of economic planning and foreign policy. 

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.