Growth in a changing climate: workshop report

This report summarises discussions held at two events exploring Growth in a Changing Climate held in June 2025.

Economic growth is the Government’s number one mission. This will only be achieved if we think about growth in the context of a changing climate and take account of the physical impacts of climate change that are now locked in because of historic and ongoing emissions.

Businesses need to be able to deal with our new and evolving climate reality. This means fully appreciating the physical risks that climate change will bring and taking action to build resilience. 

Headlines

• Climate adaptation and resilience is still a new topic for most organisations and it might be difficult for many to intuitively see climate change as a significant risk.
• Climate disclosure requirements can help to ensure that more organisations are carrying out risk assessments, but it remains to be seen whether this will lead to significant action on building resilience.
• Challenges for conducting effective risk assessments include a tendency to focus on median projections rather than imagining the ‘worst case scenario’, and taking a system-wide approach rather than focusing on individual assets.
• A major barrier to taking action is the difficulty of making the business case for action. Quantifying risks and benefits is a key part of this processes. Methods – such as PCRAM for infrastructure investment – are starting to be developed to help address this problem.
• Policy levers that could help drive action include increasing the scope of mandatory reporting and adopting an outcome-based approach to regulation.

The need to adapt to climate change means that we will need also need innovation and new ways of thinking so that we can build resilience and protect people, property and societies as our climate continues to change. 

• The UK already has many strengths that could provide a foundation for developing adaptation-related goods and services. These include strengths in digital technologies and data processing (which might be utilised in providing risk assessment and monitoring services), financial services (which could provide a home for new insurance and financial products), and engineering consultancy services.
• A lack of climate literacy among investors and lenders combined with an unfamiliarity with the adaptation and resilience sector is a barrier to startups seeking to secure finance for projects.
• Nature-based Solutions face additional challenges in seeking to develop bankable projects. Aggregating multiple projects at the ‘landscape scale’ is one potential solution.
• Policymakers can help to promote innovation by providing the enabling conditions for investment, including, for example, through the provision of a stable policy environment and through risk sharing (such as providing guarantees and underwriting for loans).