It is always very helpful to get publications from our Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) and occasionally they pick up the details from the Government. At the end of last week they published this document written by Jack Loughran with the headline “UK critical infrastructure at high risk of damage from climate change, MPs warn” and it related to a document published on Thursday by the MP and Lord group of the “National Security Strategy (Joint Committee)” which published the “Critical national infrastructure and climate adaptation” following on from their inquiry that the committee set out. The inquiry text was

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) is examining critical national infrastructure (CNI) and climate adaptation. The inquiry is considering the resilience of UK CNI to the effects of climate change, which is predicted to result in an increase in extreme weather events such as flooding, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves, as well as rising sea levels.

The call from the IET document that Jack Loughran published last week began with this information

Climate change is putting some of Britain’s critical infrastructure at risk and ministers have so far failed to prepare enough for extreme weather events, a parliamentary enquiry has warned.

In recent years, the UK has faced extreme weather events due to climate change including droughts, wildfires and floods. The country faced six major storms over the past year, including some of the highest wind speeds recorded in over 30 years.

A report from the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy suggests that failures at the top of government could worsen the potential impact of extreme weather in the future.

According to the Committee text the Government response is due on 27th December 2022 so let us hope that they respond in an effective way before the end of this year. On their website they include this element

Contact us

• Email: jcnss@parliament.uk
• Phone: 020 7219 8092/4043 (General / Commons enquiries) / 020 7219 6612 (Lords enquiries) | 07842 601500 (Media enquiries)
• Address: Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA