My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

In my oral Statement to the House on 18 June I warned that the threat to the UK posed by floods, heat waves and coastal erosion presents a great challenge which we need to plan for. According to the UK climate change projections, the UK faces warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers, with more drought, heat-waves, flooding and sea-level rise. The results illustrate how important it is for the country to plan for the impacts of climate change. The projections underline that cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to limit future climate change is essential for the UK—as for the rest of the world.

In response to this, experts have been appointed to the Adaptation Sub-Committee to the Committee on Climate Change, which has been established under the Climate Change Act 2008 to advise government on their work on the national climate change risk assessment, and ensure that the Government’s adaptation programme enables England to prepare effectively for the impacts of climate change.

I am announcing the first six members of the Adaptation Sub-Committee to the Committee on Climate Change today. They are: Dr Sam Fankhauser, Professor Martin Parry, Professor Jim Hall, Dr Andrew Dlugolecki, Baroness Barbara Young and Mr Graham Wynne. The sub-committee will be headed by the newly appointed chair Lord John Krebs.