BE24085 - Projections of Climate Risks, their Societal Impact and Cost, and the Cost and Effectiveness of Adaptation Measures for Water Scarcity

UK Shared Business Services Limited (UK SBS) on behalf of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) invite you to this Request for Proposal for Projections of Climate Risks to Health and Health Services from Extreme Heat: Their Societal Impact and Cost, And the Cost and Effectiveness of Adaptation Measures.

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 requires that every five years, the UK government must publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). The Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4) Government Report is due to be published in January 2027.

As part of CCRA4, the CCC will be developing a new output to complement the Technical Report as produced in previous CCRAs. This output - to be known as the 'Well-adapted UK report' (WA report) - will focus on the potential for key aspects of the UK adaptation challenge to reduce the climate risks threatening the achievement of key UK policy and societal outcomes and hence set out a vision for aspects of a well-adapted UK.

This WA report will be informed by a set of commissioned, bespoke analysis projects, in-house CCC analysis and wider external evidence. The analysis will need to be developed collaboratively with decision makers and consider both risk and adaptation interventions as systemically as possible, while focusing on delivering social and economic analysis and evidence at appropriate spatial scales.

This project is to focus on economy-wide water scarcity risks. Changing patterns of non-household water use, particularly in the context of Net Zero, are insufficiently understood. The analysis will answer the following questions:

• How is water demand (particularly for uses outside of the public water system) expected to change by sector, particularly in the context of efforts to reach Net Zero in the UK, and how will this vary by location?
• How will water scarcity risk (at times of drought) change in the UK, accounting for sectoral water demand as well as climate change, population growth and environmental water needs?
• Which adaptation actions are most effective in managing water scarcity risks, particularly outside of public water supply, and what package of adaptation actions could deliver an optimal level of resilience?