Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050

The UK must be prepared to cope with extreme weather resulting from at least 2 degrees of global warming by 2050, independent climate consultants have said.

The country is “not yet adapted” to the worsening extreme weather events already occurring at current levels of warming, “let alone” what was expected, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) wrote in a letter to the government.

The committee said it would advise the UK to prepare for climate change by going beyond the long-term temperature target set in the Paris Agreement.

The letter comes as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that 2024 saw a record increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere.

CO2 is the gas largely responsible for human-caused climate change and is released by the burning of fossil fuels as well as other activities.

The CCC's letter comes after it was asked to provide guidance on timelines for developing adaptation scenarios based on “minimum climate scenarios”.

They called on the government to set out a framework of “clear long-term goals” to prevent further rises in temperatures, with new targets every five years and departments “with clear responsibilities” for achieving those goals.

The CCC said it will be able to provide further information about potential “trade-offs” in May 2026, when it publishes a major report outlining how the UK can adapt to climate change.

The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.and saw nearly 200 countries pledge to try to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and keep them “well below” 2C.

As the CCC noted in its letter, a 2°C level of global warming would have a significant impact on the UK's weather, with extreme events becoming more frequent and widespread.

They said the UK could expect more heatwaves, drought and flooding, with the bushfire season likely to extend into the autumn.

Baroness Brown, Chair of the CCC's Adaptation Committee, said: “People in the UK are already experiencing the impacts of climate change and we have a responsibility to prepare for them and help them prepare.

“Adaptation in the UK has not kept pace with rising climate risks. The consequences for the UK are getting worse and [the government] we need more ambition,” she told the BBC Today programme.

The chair also criticized Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. who promised to repeal landmark UK climate change legislation and replace it with a strategy of “cheap and reliable” energy.

Baroness Brown called the pledge “disappointing” and said she hoped the Conservative leader would “reflect on the fact that the law covers both adaptation and mitigation.”

The UK is already experiencing changing weather patterns due to climate change, with four official heatwaves confirmed in 2025, which the Met Office said was the hottest summer on record.

Met Office climate scientists found that a summer as hot or hotter than in 2025 is now 70 times more likely than it would be in a “natural” climate, without anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

The increase in atmospheric CO2 between 2023 and 2024 was the largest since modern measurements began in the late 1950s, according to the WMO.

This follows from the conclusions first reported by the Met Office in January.

“Heat trapped by CO2 and other greenhouse gases is accelerating our climate and leading to even more extreme weather,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Co Barrett.

“Reducing emissions is therefore important not only for our climate, but also for our economic security and community well-being,” she added.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change previously said CO2 levels were at their highest in at least two million years, based on long-term data such as marine sediments and ice cores.