The Government has not assessed this review, however, its findings are consistent with the existing scientific literature and conclusions of the Sixth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This stated that the Arctic will likely be practically ice-free at least once before 2050 with more frequent occurrences under higher warming scenarios. The IPCC concluded that it is virtually certain the Arctic will continue to warm at least two times faster than the rest of the globe. Arctic sea ice retreat has and will lead to a range of impacts, including loss in biodiversity and coastal erosion.

In 2022, the FCDO published a position paper, 'Addressing the Climate, Environment, and Biodiversity Crises in and through Girls' Education' [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/addressing-the-climate-environment-and-biodiversity-crises-in-and-through-girls-education/addressing-the-climate-environment-and-biodiversity-crises-in-and-through-girls-education]. This provides a framework of priority actions to build resilient and climate smart school systems. Increasingly, our bilateral education programmes are building in climate co-benefits, and we are working through global education funds to which we are leading donors - Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait - to do more on climate and education. At COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK co-led the Declaration for the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change [https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2023/12/Declaration-on-education-and-climate-change-en.pdf], and will work with signatories to accelerate action.

Ministers across Government regularly meet with Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry to discuss a range of climate change, energy and environment-related issues, including policy related to COP28.

The Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change finished in the role on 31 March 2023.

There are no plans to appoint a climate envoy. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero leads on international climate change for the UK. The Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero represented the UK at the COP28 negotiations as Ministerial Head of Delegation.

The UK is driving global climate ambition through its leadership in the UNFCCC process, multilateral forums such as the G7 and G20, and through international climate finance commitments and diplomatic networks. The Government is committed to spending £11.6 billion on international climate finance and is delivering on that pledge.

COP28 will involve the first ever Global Stocktake of progress against the Paris Agreement. It must galvanise a step change in action and ambition from all involved.

The third National Adaptation Programme, due to be published later this year, will set out the government's approach to addressing the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment. This includes risks to freshwater habitats and species, like river fishes, from changing climatic conditions and extreme events. It will include actions to support the resilience of our freshwater, such as those we have committed to in the Government’s Plan for Water, Environmental Improvement Plan and River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs).

The actions in the Plan for Water are directed towards addressing poor water quality, pollution, over abstractions and low flows and will provide a basis for planning our longer- term response to mitigate climate impacts. The River Basin Management Plans, produced by the Environment Agency, and supporting catchment plans aim to mitigate climate change impacts by restoring the integrity and resilience of natural systems. As well as action on water quality, pollution and low flow, they include actions such as restoring habitats, improving river connectivity by removing barriers to fish migration and the Keeping Rivers Cool project (copy attached), to reduce fishes’ exposure to increasing temperatures.

The UK is driving global climate ambition through its leadership in multilateral forums, including the UN COP process, G7 and G20 forums, as well as through its International Climate Finance commitments and diplomatic networks. The UK supports and contributes to the WMO’s Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) which assesses the status of global climate observations and participates in the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to improve the availability, access, and use of Earth observations.

The UK welcomed Brazil's commitments at COP26 to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028 and restore 18 million hectares of forest by 2030. We look forward to working with the current and incoming Brazilian Government to protect Earth's natural resources. At COP27, I, Climate Envoy John Murton, DEFRA Secretary of State Therese Coffey and BEIS Minister Stuart met current and incoming ministerial and Congress representatives from Brazil. They discussed potential cooperation with the UK, including on trade policies that reflect climate and nature. We are keen to develop a partnership with Brazil to implement commitments made in Glasgow that deliver green growth for both countries.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report is clear that the effects of climate change have not been felt equally across the world, and this trend will continue. Water scarcity is one of the ways people are most likely to experience climate change. Our latest assessments can be found on the Knowledge For Development Water Learning Journey website (K4D Learning Journey on Water Security (ids.ac.uk)). They show that water can be a risk or threat multiplier for conflict and instability, and a trigger for conflict at the local level. Water shortages can compound existing fragilities and social stressors making conflict or migration more likely.

The UK recognises the importance of ensuring that countries most vulnerable to climate change can respond to the risks they face, including those related to water. We are supporting a number of initiatives that help to improve water security and from a range of angles including policy and regulation, investment, and water footprints.

For instance last week we launched the 'Al Murunah' project in the Middle East and North Africa region, the world's most water-scarce region. The project aims to increase water security through the integration of resilient nature-based solutions.

The UK also funds the Transboundary Water Programme, supporting countries in southern Africa to manage their shared water resources (rivers, lakes and groundwater) for economic development and contribute to climate resilience and poverty reduction.

In addition, we are funding the development and piloting of the new 'Water Tracker', led by the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, which is being used by developing country governments to integrate water resilience within their national climate plans.

The UK is always seeking to discuss issues with our international partners where appropriate opportunities arise. This is no exception and there is a strong international community involved in monitoring and discussing the risk around the Thwaites Glacier.

In 2018, the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, a five-year £20million Antarctic research programme and the largest joint project undertaken by the two nations in Antarctica for more than 70 years. This project is aimed at collecting instrument data throughout the glacier and the adjacent ocean, and modelling ice flow and the future of the ice sheet. The collaboration involves around 100 scientists from world-leading research institutes in both the US and UK alongside researchers from South Korea, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand and Finland, who will contribute to the various projects.

The changes that may occur in the vicinity of the grounding line of the Thwaites Glacier in the next decade will not, of themselves, result in a significant change in global sea level. While some computer models predict that such changes may lead to a wider loss of ice to the ocean, these are processes occurring on century timescales. For this reason, the NERC and BAS priority at present is to continue to monitor the Thwaites Glacier with satellite and ground observations, as they are presently undertaking in collaboration with the US.

The Climate Change Committee's (CCC) Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk presented a detailed and up to date insight into the growing risks and opportunities to the UK from climate change. It will help inform greater ambition and action on enhancing resilience and inform the third Climate Change Risk Assessment Government Report, which we will lay in Parliament in January 2022. This report will state our position relative to the CCC's evidence and advice and set out a forward look for adaptation in the UK, including to the third National Adaptation Programme.   We welcome the evidence the CCC has presented and recognise the need to go further in preparing for the impacts of climate change.

Domestic biodiversity policy is devolved in the UK, and this response refers to action in England. Our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step-change in ambition for biodiversity and the natural environment and we are already taking action to fulfil this ambition.

We have committed to protect 30% of our land and sea by 2030, and will be extending protections on land and piloting Highly Protected Marine Areas in English waters to boost biodiversity recovery. Since 2010 we have already established over 100 new marine protected sites. We have also brought forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, including restoring and enhancing nature. The Bill requires a new, historic legally binding target to be set to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This will help us to deliver our commitment to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.

Furthermore, we are investing in nature restoration and in nature-based solutions to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change and to support new green jobs, for example through our £640 million Nature for Climate and £80 million Green Recovery Challenge funds.

As part of our coordinated international efforts to address climate change, the UK Government works closely with the Government of Indonesia on shared objectives to reduce and avoid deforestation and improve the sustainability of Indonesia's palm oil sector, including through regular bilateral engagement. Our partnership incorporates UK support for a number of programmes designed to reduce and avoid deforestation in key forested provinces, including Papua and West Papua, as well as thematic programmes to promote the Government of Indonesia's initiatives on palm oil sustainability and better governance of the forest and land-use sector.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate provides the definitive assessment of climate change impacts on the ocean and cryosphere (icecaps). It shows that many of the changes that have taken place, such as ocean warming and the melting of sea ice, will continue if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue. Accelerated and ambitious global GHG reductions are critical to reduce the impact of climate change on the ocean, alongside protecting our marine environment to build greater resilience.

As incoming president of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26, the UK is committed to engaging with international partners, encouraging every country to develop ambitious new Nationally Determined Contributions to limit emissions. The UK is also engaging with Parties through the UNFCCC Ocean Dialogue on how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action for the ocean under the Convention.

The UK is encouraging countries to join the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance, in support of a new Convention on Biological Diversity target to protect at least 30% of the global ocean within marine protected areas and other effective conservation measures by 2030. Scientific evidence indicates effective protection of at least 30% of the global ocean will help to reverse adverse impacts, preserve fish populations, increase resilience to climate change and sustain ocean health. There are currently 25 members of the Global Ocean Alliance from across the globe.

Through our Blue Belt programme, we are on track to protect 4 million square kilometres of ocean around the UK mainland and Overseas Territories within MPAs by 2020.

On the depletion of fish stocks, the UK has always been a strong advocate for setting harvest rates at or below a stock's maximum sustainable yield (MSY), to progress over-exploited stocks towards MSY and restore them to healthy conditions as quickly as possible, both through international agreements and in negotiations over catch limits for stocks of interest to UK fishers.

The Fisheries Bill provides the legal framework for making progress towards MSY in its precautionary objective (clause 1) and further details about how the fisheries administrations will achieve sustainable fishing will be outlined in the legally binding Joint Fisheries Statement and Fisheries Management Plans.

As we leave the EU, the UK will take its seat in regional fisheries management organisations and engage proactively with international counterparts, driving forward a sustainability agenda and helping to ensure sustainable management of high seas fisheries as an independent coastal state. The UK also plays a leading role in the global fight to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The UK is also engaging internationally on science. For example, we are collaborating on research on the changes in the arctic ocean through a £16 million National Environmental Research Council funded programme and we will be participating in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-30), which through international collaboration will target a number of societal and research outcomes, including how climate change affects the ocean and coastal communities.

Government officials hold regular discussions with climate scientists and negotiators from arctic nations and others, including through the Cryosphere High Urgency group run by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.

We work extensively with international partners to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which is the main driver of warming seas and declining marine oxygen levels.

The UK is at the forefront of international action to tackle climate change. We played an influential role in securing the agreement of 195 countries to sign up to the Paris Agreement in 2015 and we remain fully committed to its implementation, as demonstrated by our instrumental role in the creation of a rulebook in Poland last year to bring the agreement to life.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will publish a Special Report on Oceans and the Cryosphere later this year, which will include an up-to-date assessment of changes in the ocean due to climate change, including marine oxygen loss and its impacts. Once published we will respond to these findings in due course.

The UK Climate Projections (UKCP18), published in November 2018 by the UK government-funded Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC), projected a global sea level rise of 29 – 112 cm by 2100, relative to the 1981-2000 average, depending on the scale of future emissions of greenhouse gases. Under a medium emissions scenario, the UKCP18 sea level projections show a net contribution from Antarctica of up to 26 cm by 2100.

The UK Government is committed to tackling climate change and is actively working with others to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. This includes:

• demonstrating leadership by taking action to reduce our own emissions (we have reduced UK emissions by over 40% compared to 1990 levels);
• taking a prominent leadership role in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, G20, G7;
• providing International Climate Finance (at least £5.8bn from 2016/17-2020/21) to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change; and
• promoting global alliances to encourage clean growth, such as the Powering Past Coal Alliance.
• Through organisations, such as the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) – a part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK is delivering world-leading interdisciplinary research to better understand environmental changes in the polar regions and its impacts. This is often in collaboration with international partners – for example, the £20 million over 5 years UK-US International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration to understand its ice sheet stability and potential impact on global sea-level rise. This and similar projects enable us to better adapt to and mitigate against global climate change.

The Department for International Development has not directly commissioned studies on the impact of water shortages on migration patterns from the southern hemisphere to northern Europe.

We recognise climate change and increasing water shortages can combine with other factors to influence migration decisions and therefore fund analytical work to improve the understanding of the impacts of climate change in developing countries. Examples include our work with the Natural Environment Research Council on the Future Climate for Africa Programme and our support to the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, which has produced analyses on the effects of water shortages, including migration. We are also building the evidence base to better understand why people migrate as part of our efforts set out in the 2015 UK Aid Strategy to tackle the root causes of migration.

In 2011, the Government Office for Science commissioned the Foresight Report on Migration and Global Environmental Change which analysed how human population movements across the world could be affected by global environmental changes.

Since the Climate Change Act came into force 10 years ago the UK has proven to be a world-leader in tackling climate change – including by cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country since 1990. As the Committee on Climate Change has recognised, the UK has made strong progress to date in cleaning up the power and waste sectors. Our ambitious Clean Growth Strategy sets out our plans to go further, looking across the whole of the economy and the country. It includes ambitious policies and proposals on housing, business, transport, the natural environment and green finance and our priority is now on delivering these.

The Government will respond formally to the Committee on Climate Change’s 2018 progress report in the Autumn.