Britain Must Prepare for 2°C Global Warming by 2050, Climate Advisers Warn of Inadequate Weather Resilience

Britain is currently experiencing unprecedented extreme weather conditions as a result of climate change.

London:

The Climate Change Committee has issued a stark warning that Britain must immediately prepare for global warming of at least 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050. The committee emphasized on Wednesday that the country is severely underprepared for extreme weather events that are already occurring with increasing frequency.

This year, Britain recorded its warmest summer since records began, significantly impacting public health, agricultural production, and infrastructure, with drought declarations across multiple regions.

"We are clearly not adequately adapted for the current changes in weather and climate patterns, much less those anticipated in the coming decades," stated the Climate Change Committee in their response letter to a government minister's request for guidance.

The CCC identified six priority areas requiring urgent attention: public health systems, food security measures, infrastructure resilience, protection of urban areas from extreme weather disruption, maintenance of essential public services, and development of climate-resilient economic growth strategies.

While most governments committed under the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, scientists have been alarmed by the accelerated pace of climate change. Current data from UN and EU science agencies indicates that average global temperatures have already risen by 1.3-1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages.

Julia King, who chairs the CCC's Adaptation Committee, stated during a press briefing: "We maintain that limiting the rise to 1.5 degrees remains achievable as a long-term objective, however, the risk of failing to meet this target is clearly increasing."

The committee cautioned that global warming could potentially reach 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, emphasizing that this scenario must be considered when planning residential and infrastructure developments to ensure they can withstand climate conditions over the next 75 to 100 years.