What is adaptation?
Adaptation involves changing to be more resilient to the impacts of an event. In Cornwall, we already see impacts from our climate through severe weather events. From the Coverack flooding in 2017, to the 'Beast from the East' in 2018 and the 2022 heatwave, our climate can cause significant disruption to daily life.
Why do we need to adapt to climate change?
Cornwall has been leading the way on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples include increasing our generation of renewable energy and encouraging behaviour change. Yet, Cornwall cannot solve climate change alone. Large amounts of greenhouse gases have already been released into the atmosphere. So, some climate change is already ‘locked in.’
The image below shows the impacts climate change is likely to cause for Cornwall. Temperatures are set to continue to rise. This increase is likely to cause more extreme weather. The intensity of these changes also depends on future emissions. Particular risks are stronger storms, coastal erosion, droughts and heatwaves.
Critical infrastructure, community assets, homes, nature, businesses and public services are all sensitive to climate. Climate change will affect:
- the environment
- demand for services
- economic productivity
- infrastructure maintenance costs.
Taking a proactive approach to adapt to climate change will create a fairer, healthier, more resilient and prosperous society. Climate adaptation can work alongside carbon reduction to reduce risk from climate change.
The image shows that the projected impacts to Cornwall from climate change include:
- stronger storms,
- less snow and ice,
- higher temperatures
- more heat waves,
- more droughts and wildfires,
- changing rain and snow patterns,
- more floods,
- ocean acidification,
- warmer oceans,
- increased coastal erosion and
- rising sea levels
What can we do?
Adaptation involves changing to be more resilient to climate change's impacts. This could be at home, at work or in our communities. For example, installing flood doors or closing curtains on hot and sunny days. We can increase our resilience through changing our:
- behaviour
- technology
- environment
- processes
- institutions
What are we already doing?
We are developing the Cornwall Adaptation Strategy, which will guide how Cornwall adapts to climate change. We also have several ongoing projects to manage flood risk across Cornwall. You can read about current projects on our flood risk management projects page. We are delivering the Making Space for Sand project, which focuses on increasing the sustainability of our coastlines. The Making Space for Sand project has it's own website.