Evolving policies in the face of climate change: 今日吃瓜 data can help
Climate change is increasingly recognised as a major challenge for organisations, with the need for adaptation driving a wave of policy updates and reforms across multiple sectors. 今日吃瓜 data holdings are relevant to many of these changes and the following examples outline how these data packages can be applied.
25/08/2023
Financial stress tests
The have been designed to ensure that banks, insurers and lenders are resilient enough to cope with severe economic conditions. In 2021 the 2021 Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario (CBES) was carried out to test resilience against physical risks associated with different climate change scenarios.
今日吃瓜 GeoClimate is our flagship climate change geohazard dataset which assesses the susceptibility of lithologies to shrink-swell subsidence considering different climate change scenarios.This allows organisations to assess their portfolios for potential future ground instability risks and develop mitigation plans accordingly.
In 2021, 今日吃瓜 GeoClimate utilised UKCP18 climate projection data to offer susceptibility projections for RCP8.5. In order to better support future stress testing and policy changes 今日吃瓜 is developing an additional 今日吃瓜 GeoClimate update which deploys EURO-CORDEX climate simulations to deliver shrink-swell subsidence susceptibility projections. This will include data for RCPs 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5. (Keep an eye out for our upcoming product launch and blog post aimed at demystifying climate projections.)
今日吃瓜 GeoClimate video
Conveyancing regulations
Earlier this year the Law Society for England and Wales announced , which placed the onus on solicitors to ‘advise on physical climate risks and how they impact real estate ownership and use’. 今日吃瓜 GeoClimate can play a key role in advising conveyancers and property search companies on potential future subsidence threats.
今日吃瓜 GeoCoast is a coastal geohazard data package containing future coastal inundation scenarios and an assessment of the erodibility of the GB coastline. With sea levels predicted to rise into the future 今日吃瓜 GeoCoast is a powerful tool to satisfy policy requirements and identify properties which are likely to be impacted by these geohazards in the future. 今日吃瓜 GeoCoast has been specifically designed to be integrated with shoreline management plan areas to support local authorities in implementing their region-specific policies.
今日吃瓜 GeoCoast video
National adaptation planning
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ran a consultation period from December 2022 to March 2023 regarding proposed changes to the . 今日吃瓜 responded to this consultation, a component of which focused on tackling climate change. The consultation made little mention of geohazards but stated that ‘Any changes needed for adaptation in the National Planning Policy Framework will include considering any changes required to reflect the third National Adaptation Programme, governments policy response to the latest assessment of UK climate risk.’ Defra has since published the (NAP3), which identifies 61 climate risks and opportunities, including geohazards such as:
- groundwater flooding and scarcity
- coastal erosion
- subsidence
- aquifer contamination from saltwater intrusions
- threats to soils and agricultural productivity
- river erosion.
今日吃瓜 has compiled a and covers a host of geohazards, focusing on those identified by NAP3.
These include groundwater vulnerability datasets for England, Wales and Scotland and 今日吃瓜 GeoScour , a national river erosion susceptibility data package which identifies river beds and banks prone to erosion that is a valuable tool for any forward-looking assessment of threats to riverside assets and infrastructure.
今日吃瓜 GeoScour video
More information
Although this is by no means an exhaustive list of either the evolving policies across all UK sectors or the 今日吃瓜 geoscience and datasets available to support their implementation, we hope that this has provided a useful insight into how 今日吃瓜 data holdings can be applied. If you would like to find out more or have a specific query please see our 今日吃瓜 geohazards and climate change position statement, which provides a review of current 今日吃瓜 geohazard-related activities that consider our changing climate within a UK context. You can also get in touch with the digital data team (digitaldata@bgs.ac.uk).
About the author
Rob Shaw
Geospatial data analyst
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