Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of properties at threat of (a) flooding and (b) destruction from an average rise in global temperature of (i) 1.5 degrees and (ii) 2 degrees Celsius.

The Environment Agency estimates there are 2.7 million properties at risk of river and coastal flooding, 3 million properties at risk of surface water flooding and some 660,000 properties at risk from all sources: river, coastal and surface water. The report can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flood-and-coastal-risk-management-national-report

As set out in the Climate Change Act 2008, Defra publishes the Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years which highlights the climate risks requiring further action in the UK over the next five years. The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 Evidence Report provides an assessment of future flood and other risks and can be found at https://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/preparing-for-climate-change/uk-climate-change-risk-assessment-2017/).

Later this year, the Government will publish, with the Met Office, an updated set of UK Climate Projections – UKCP18. This will help the Government, businesses and the public understand the future climate and enable them to make climate-resilient decisions.