Climate change impacts on the UK

Climate change impacts on the UK: geoscientific perspectives on mitigation and adaptation

Watch a special lecture by BGS geoscientists where they discuss key findings from our modelling projections and showcase our latest research aimed at adaptation and mitigation measures in the UK.

Watch a recording of our Climate Change UK lecture.

The annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be hosted in Glasgow in November 2021. The aim is clear: to reach net zero by 2050, ensuring that the amount of carbon we add to the atmosphere is no more than the amount we remove. 

Protecting communities and natural habitats through adaptation is one of the four primary goals of COP26. Geoscience has a crucial role to play in managing the impacts and effects of climate change, from managing groundwater resources to creating sustainable urban spaces and mitigating environmental hazards. At BGS, scientists have been harnessing long-term data and modelling the anticipated impacts of climate change in the UK to the year 2100.

• anticipated impacts of climate change in the UK to the year 2100
• regional controls on historical and future groundwater drought severity
• mitigating the increasing threat posed by shallow geohazards, such as landslides and clay shrink–swell
• adaption through the sustainable use of urban subsurface spaces