Warning - UK must prepare to cope with 2C warming by 2050

THE UK must be prepared to cope with weather extremes of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, climate advisers have said.

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(GARETH FULLER/PA WIRE)

The independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) said the UK is not adapted to worsening extremes such as 40C heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and flooding that are already occurring at current levels of 1.4C of warming, "let alone" what is to come.

In a letter to the Government, the committee has urged ministers to set out stronger objectives and targets for protecting health, homes, food security, infrastructure and key public services, in the face of 2C of warming by 2050 "at a minimum".

And the committee said new homes, electricity networks and other infrastructure that is expected to last for decades, must be built with the potential to be adapted to cope with temperatures of as much as 4C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.