Guidance

Climate impacts tool

A document to help Environment Agency staff identify and communicate climate impacts and risks relevant to our work.

Applies to England

Documents

Climate impacts tool

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Details

The climate impacts tool provides a simple description of current and potential future challenges. It shows changes to weather, climate, and environmental variables for 4 scenarios.

  1. Present day (The climate has already changed).
  2. Mid-century (+2°C by 2050).
  3. Managed transition (+2°C by 2100).
  4. Runaway change (+4°C by 2100).

The tool also provides more information on a large range of climate impacts, including cascading risks to the environment, society, and infrastructure.

This guidance explains to staff how to use the tool when:

  • creating a strategy or plan
  • considering specific projects or making decisions at a local level
  • discussing climate impacts as part of wider collaborations - particularly if a work area is vulnerable to climate risks or has a long lifespan

Updates to this page

Published 29 April 2019
Last updated 31 October 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated the document to reflect the latest evidence base, to include new content on a range of climate impacts, and to emphasise that it can be used to support a range of decisions across all the work of the Environment Agency.

  2. First published.

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