On Monday, Defra published its National Adaptation Programme report, in which it sets out areas for action by businesses, councils and communities to tackle the threat of climate change.  

However, as well as warning businesses and local government to prepare for challenging and extreme weather, amongst other impacts associated with a changing climate, the government said the grave prospect should provide opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Recent research shows that 64 percent of UK businesses have already suffered supply chain disruption due to extreme weather and 70 percent believe there is a "significant risk from climate change." However, according to Defra, only 40 percent of large businesses have taken preparatory action.

The Climate Change Risk Assessment, published last year, showed that unless moves are made to respond to climate change, the UK could incur significant costs (and miss out on business opportunities). The government has identified a number of risks UK businesses and communities face, including the effects of intensifying rainfall patterns, which lead to severe flooding and periods of drought, both of which were experienced in 2012.

In response to these threats, the new policy includes a climate change risk assessment, to be reviewed every five years, and the development of five key areas for 'urgent adaptation'. Agriculture is one such area.

Defra's recommendations for business

There are a number of 'climate proofing ' actions, which the government project suggests businesses take; amongst these are 'low-regret' options, such as improving water efficiency or insurance coverage, which provide benefits now as well as potentially improving resilience.

Defra Secretary Owen Paterson said that, although the government has a responsibility to drive climate change adaptation efforts, it cannot act alone. He said, "I'm delighted that we have worked so closely with so many experts from outside government – from industry, from local government and from civil society." Nevertheless, pursuing adaptation strategies and reporting on them remain voluntary.  

Public adaptation measures driven by Defra include an upcoming consultation on reforms of water abstraction regulations (planned for later this year); officials said the reforms will drive more sustainable and efficient water use. The department will also investigate paying farmers for boosting natural functions that provide 'ecosystem services', which could improve overall climate change adaptation for businesses and wider society.  

Although adaptation to climate change has tended to focus on civil society initiatives, Environment Minister Lord de Mauley said there is business potential in climate change groundwork. Owen Paterson said preparation and clean-up initiatives in areas such as Thailand (which was hit by devastating flooding in 2011), represent one such "business opportunity".

Although on Monday he owned that, "Recent floods and droughts have highlighted the need to plan ahead and prepare for changing conditions," environment minister de Mauley went on to say, "We have vital expertise in the UK which will stand us in good stead to adapt to climate change and help us compete in the global race."

De Mauley continued to promote competitive and commercial solutions over cooperative or regulated measures, "Businesses, government and local communities must ensure they are equipped to deal with the challenges ahead and embrace the opportunities that arise, both at home and overseas."

Preparing for the effects of climate change is indeed a serious business; economists have estimated that every £1 spent on adaptation could represent four times its value in potential damages avoided. Defra claims the UK is already leading the way in a growing 'global market' for adaptation goods and services, including flood defence, climate modelling, weather forecasting and insurance. Internationally, the sector is currently valued at around £68 billion.

Andrew Brown, Head of Sustainability at Anglian Water, commented on the company's adaptation strategy, which falls in line with Defra's vision, "The services we provide are vital for people's health and wellbeing as well as a thriving economy. We are investing now to make sure we can provide those services to a growing population in the face of less predictable rainfall and more frequent extremes of weather."

The UK government is not alone in its drive to defend business against the ravages of climate change. In June, the UN Environment Programme suggested that "The future of the private sector will increasingly hinge on the ability of businesses to adapt to the world's rapidly changing environment and to develop goods and services that can reduce the impacts of climate change, water scarcity, emissions of harmful chemicals, and other environmental concerns."

International research reveals severity of climate change threat

Research released this week from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, shed further light on the very real costs associated with climate change. The report identified several "climate impact hotspots," including the Amazon region, the Mediterranean and East Africa; these regions are expected to "experience severe change in multiple sectors."

The regions include developed as well as developing countries, and researchers said the 'multisectoral' scope of their analysis revealed the extent to which the lives of people living in these regions would be affected. Commenting on water availability, Study co-author Qiuhong Tang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that, in the Mediterranean, "what today is considered extreme could become the new normal" in terms of water scarcity.

Alex Ruane of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who also worked on the study, said the research had helped identify impact areas more accurately, through using a more holistic approach, which relied on fewer assumptions.

Defra's apparent promotion of profiteering from Climate proofing could be seen as irresponsible, given the projected impacts of climate change outlined in a World Bank report released last month.

The projections include massive impacts on food production, particularly in developing countries, which will exacerbate food shortages and trap people in cycles of poverty and malnutrition. According to the report, "urban dwellers, particularly the urban poor, face significant vulnerability to climate change." In this scenario, these victims of climate change will not be able engage in or benefit from commercialised response or preparation strategies.

Commenting on the findings, some of which were also provided by the Potsdam Institute, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said, "The scientists tell us that if the world warms by 2°C - warming which may be reached in 20 to 30 years - that will cause widespread food shortages, unprecedented heat-waves, and more intense cyclones. In the near-term, climate change, which is already unfolding, could batter the slums even more and greatly harm the lives and the hopes of individuals and families who have had little hand in raising the Earth's temperature."

Kim added, "These changes… illustrate the level of hardships that will be inflicted on all regions eventually, it we fail to keep warming under control." He concluded, "There can be no substitute for aggressive national mitigation targets, and the burden of emissions reductions lies with a few large economies."