Limited ‘window of opportunity’ to bolster UK infrastructure

The UK is at risk of missing the “window of opportunity” to prepare the country’s infrastructure for the effects of climate change, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and Climate Change Committee (CCC) have warned.

The two organisations have urged ministers to urgently develop more effective plans to bolster the resilience of the country’s infrastructure, in a joint letter sent to deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and environment secretary Thérèse Coffey.

In particular, the organisations have called for policymaking on resilient infrastructure to be aligned within regulatory cycles. They warn that not doing so puts the country’s infrastructure at risk.

The letter states: “Between now and 2029 there will be new price controls for electricity, gas, twice for water and a new control period for Network Rail.

“Adaptation and resilience policy needs to be aligned with these regulatory cycles.

“Most critically, if new outcome-based resilience standards are not developed until 2030, every single one of those cycles will be missed and the window of opportunity for investment to meet those standards will be pushed back until the 2030s.”

The letter adds: “Record breaking storms and temperatures in 2022 brought widespread disruption to energy and transport networks, with substantial impacts for people living and working across the UK. As the climate continues to change, these impacts are likely to intensify.

“We urge you to develop more effective plans to improve the resilience of infrastructure, which is so critical to the UK’s economic prosperity.”

Building on recent reports by both organisations, the advisory bodies set out five steps to accelerate national adaptation planning to protect key networks:

• Setting clear and measurable goals for resilience, and action plans to deliver them
• Ensuring these standards are developed in time to inform forthcoming regulatory price control periods (which set investment levels for operators)
• Giving explicit duties for resilience to all infrastructure regulators
• Cabinet-level oversight of interdependencies and whole-system resilience
• Embedding resilience in infrastructure planning as we move to an economy more reliant on electricity

To achieve this the organisations call for better resilience coordination between infrastructure systems to head-off cascading impacts.

The letter adds: “Interdependencies between infrastructure systems mean that climate impacts in one system cascade and interact with others. There are numerous recent examples of these failures, including power outages during Storm Arwen, which then disrupted water supplies, and the flooding of a gas pipe in Sheffield following a broken water main.

“The UK requires better mechanisms to identify and track these cascading risks, with clearer accountability for key institutions to mitigate them.”

The joint letter suggests that a Cabinet-level department should be given oversight of interdependencies between different infrastructure systems. It also suggests improvements could be made through common resilience standards across sectors, data sharing between infrastructure providers and mandatory reporting systems.

According to the organisations, government has two imminent opportunities to embed better climate adaptation in this way:

• Clarify important delivery milestones for the National Resilience Framework. Last year’s publication of the Framework was welcome, but Government must follow it up with clarity on what will be delivered, clear milestone dates and development of common resilience standards as soon as practicable. This will ensure critical opportunities in price review cycles are not missed.
• Show real vision in the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3). Government has already recognised that greater ambition is needed in the country’s adaptation programme. A new plan must demonstrate how this will be delivered. Recent research for the CCC has shown that, across all sectors, additional investment of up to £10 billion per year for climate adaption may be needed this decade. NAP3 is the opportunity to provide clarity and direction on how this will be funded, financed and delivered.