Climate advisers warn UK to prepare for 2C warming by 2050

UK climate advisers warned the government for the first time on Wednesday to prepare for 2C of global warming by 2050, stressing current efforts to adapt to extreme weather were not enough.

The UK, alongside other countries, experienced its hottest summer on record this year, including four heatwaves, with swaths of the country experiencing below-average rainfall and prolonged periods of drought.

According to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent public body, at the 2C threshold the time spent under drought conditions is also expected to double.

The CCC said ministers needed to prepare to adapt for "the weather extremes that will be experienced if global warming levels reach 2C above pre-industrial levels by 2050".

"We have to advise that the UK should be prepared for climate change beyond the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement," it added in an unprecedented warning.

Countries agreed in the 2015 Paris treaty to try to limit global warming at "well below" 2C, and aim for a 1.5C cap, which scientists warn is increasingly unattainable as human-driven climate change accelerates.

The CCC also said it was "clear" the UK was not adapted to deal with weather and climate changes it is currently experiencing, "let alone those that are expected over the coming decades".

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It warned the chance of a heatwave occurring in a particular year would increase from 40 percent to 80 percent.

The advisory committee, which said it had based its advice on the latest science on climate change, said the government needed to prepare for more intense and frequent heatwaves, drought, flooding, storms and wildfire conditions.

This would involve adapting infrastructure and public services to prepare for 2C of warming, including ensuring that new homes -- part of the government's building drive to meet a chronic housing shortage -- are resilient to higher temperatures.

Analysis of government data by the non-profit research organisation Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit earlier this month showed the UK had its second-worst harvest on record in 2025.

The group warned that supporting farmers to adapt to extreme conditions should be an "urgent priority for the government".

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