In April 2023, the Environment Agency updated their environmental permitting guidance for management systems. The new guidance states that if your environmental permit (under Environmental Permitting Regulations or COMAH) was issued:
- Before April 2023, you need to complete a climate change adaptation risk assessment from 1 July 2024
- On or after 1 April 2023, you need to integrate climate change adaptation planning into your management system.
To ensure the sustainability of your business, you need to consider how climate change could affect your operations, including how this may impact your ability to comply with your environmental permit.
Climate change projections for the UK suggest that we can expect:
- Higher average temperatures (particularly in summer and winter)
- More heat waves and hot days
- Rising sea levels
- Changes in rainfall patterns and intensity
- More storms
You need to consider how your assets, operation and supply chains can adapt to these changes and plan accordingly, to ensure you remain compliant with your environmental permit.
Your climate change adaptation risk assessment should be based on:
- The location of your site, considering all known or reasonably foreseeable site-specific, climate change impacts, for example flooding
- Consideration of current threats, as well as those predicted for a 2°C rise by 2050 and a 4°C rise by 2100
- Your industry sector – consider information from any relevant trade bodies
- Any process currently in place for your company to help you assess, manage, and report climate and sustainability risks
If you are required to undertake a climate change adaptation risk assessment, WSP can help.
WSP have teams of experts with a breadth of knowledge and experience when it comes to climate change adaptation and environmental permitting. With additional support available relating to the impacts of climate change on flood risk and water resources.
This guidance is specifically for sites in England, however, climate risk assessment is becoming increasingly important across the UK.
