UK Warned Cuts to Flood Defense Are Too Dangerous to Consider

The UK should spare flood defense programs from budget cuts to be announced in June, as the country is already woefully unprepared for worsening disasters linked to climate change, a government adviser has said.

“We are seriously concerned that resilience and climate adaptation may be cut in the spending review,” said Julia King, chair of the Climate Change Committee’s adaptation group. “I know the government is under a lot of pressure to make cuts, but this isn’t the easy one to cut.”

The CCC released a new report on Wednesday outlining the UK’s progress on climate adaptation, warning the country has done little to improve since its last assessment in 2023. This is despite significant funding pledged for flood defenses earlier this year. The government said it would direct £2.65 billion ($3.32 billion) toward projects such as tidal barriers and river and sea defenses before March 2026, but spending beyond that date would be up to a review this June.

A spokesperson for the UK government said it would “carefully consider” the report and respond in due course.

The government already indicated in its budget last October that “significant funding pressures” meant it would need to review spending on programs to reduce flooding risk and related farming schemes. Britain’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves now must find even more savings as the UK and other European countries have pledged to direct more of their budgets to military support for Ukraine.

The impacts of climate change are expected to touch all corners of the British economy, including food security, public health and infrastructure. The country’s gross domestic product could take as much as a 7% hit by 2050, based on current climate trajectories, according to one assessment.

Flood water, from the burst banks of River Arun following heavy rains during storm Henk, in Pulborough, UK, in January 2024. Photo credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Some 6.3 million properties in England are at risk of flooding, rising to eight million by 2050, equivalent to one in four homes. A government-backed program allowing at-risk homeowners to still access insurance is set to end in 2039, potentially leading to huge losses if properties are still vulnerable to flooding.

King pointed to recent climate-related disasters such as October’s floods in Valencia, which killed over 200 people, as proof that extreme weather is already a threat.

“We cannot wait to take action,” she said. “This is not tomorrow’s problem, it’s today’s problem, and if we don’t do something about it, it will become tomorrow’s disaster.”

Top photograph: Flooding in Tewkesbury, UK, in 2024. Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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