Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the report of the Climate Change Committee Progress in adapting to climate change: 2025 report to Parliament, published on 30 April, what infrastructure investment and resilience planning it is undertaking.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We welcome the Climate Change Committee’s constructive assessment, recognising the progress that has been made in planning for climate change across our transport system and the economy, as well as areas for improvement.
As part of our Plan for Change we are investing a record £2.65 billion to repair and build flood defences, protecting tens of thousands of homes and businesses and helping local communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change such as overheating and drought.
One of the core objectives of the government’s forthcoming 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy is enabling resilient growth. This includes ensuring that growth is resilient to climate change. The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy will set out how flood risk management infrastructure, and other actions to increase resilience to the physical effects of climate change, can protect existing, and enable new, economic activity.
We are considering the Climate Change Committee’s Progress Report and will respond to its recommendations in October as required by the Climate Change Act.