Climate Risk Decision-making: Translation of Decision Support into Policy

Abstract

Despite mounting evidence and warnings of current and future climate risks, climate policy in the UK and globally falls far short of achieving the required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to stave off the risks posed by climate change, and limit global warming to 1.5C. The science on climate risk is strong, but the policy response is currently lacking in effectiveness. Why are the plethora of climate risk assessments and decision support tools available to decision-makers not always translating into effective policy action on climate risk? What are the challenges, complexities and uncertainties associated with this translational process, and how can we improve the research translation pipeline in order to achieve more effective decision-making on climate policy? These are some of the key questions that this UK Universities Climate Network report aims to address, through a combination of literature review, case study assessment and input from stakeholder workshops.