Adapt by April! New climate adaptation requirements from the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales

If the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales require you to maintain a suitable management system to secure and maintain environmental permit compliance, you are likely aware that by 1st April this year you must produce a climate change adaptation risk assessment and adaptation plan. 

Guidance provided on the UK Government website explains that your organisation needs to understand and document:

• the risks to your business from climate change
• the risks your business creates due to climate change
• how to embed controls [to reduce these risks]

Weather related risks will be well understood by those regulated under the Control Of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 2015 but we are moving into a climate future where weather patterns will becoming increasingly variable. New extremes are now to be expected – as we saw in the South of England in 2022 when temperatures breached 40°C for the first time. Sites and systems which are well protected from historic weather patterns may, therefore, not be as well protected from future extreme weather.

More red tape? 

If this all sounds like a lot of effort for no reward, consider the safety, environmental, financial and reputational impacts that an unprecedented flood, storm or heatwave could have on the sites where you operate, and on the staff who work there. Regularly stress-testing your current responses to extreme weather, and upgrading your hard (e.g. infrastructure) and soft (e.g. contingency plans) response strategies, could save considerable sums and avoid damaging interruptions to your operations. 

Call to action

We can support you with your risk assessment and adaptation plan.  If you haven’t already, check the Environment Agency/NRW guidance. Ricardo’s experts in Waste, Chemicals, Manufacturing, Mining, Water, Sustainability reporting, Transition planning, Decarbonisation and Climate science will be able to help you develop your adaptation plan. We are here to help. April is not far away and we can work flexibility and efficiently to turn around an assessment and climate adaptation plan that really helps you understand and tackle climate risk, on a tight timescale.

Further information

•    Get in touch to start a conversation about how we can support you
•    Chemical sustainability
•    Chemical emergency response
•    Climate risk
•    Blog: Simplifying climate risk and reporting for corporate decision makers