The Department is supporting the third National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3) and climate change initiatives by working with various agencies to protect infrastructure from climate hazards. NAP3 runs from 2023 to 2028 and sets out how government will respond to the risks identified in our third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes a dedicated chapter on managing the risks to infrastructure services. The Government is committed to further strengthening the nation’s resilience, including in our approach to managing climate risks to the UK.

The UK Government remains committed to supporting the UK Overseas Territories to protect their diverse and unique environments. Discussions are ongoing regarding funding for biodiversity in the Territories, as part of the Spending Review process; and there are meetings planned with FCDO ministers regarding the important role that biodiversity plays in the sustainability of our Overseas Territories.

A detailed assessment of the September heatwave has not yet been made. The heatwave occurred when a high-pressure system led to clear skies and warm air to be drawn north from continental Europe. Climate change has increased air and sea surface temperatures across the UK and Europe meaning that, while a specific attribution analysis has not yet been conducted for this heatwave, existing scientific evidence suggests that it is very likely temperatures were higher than they might otherwise have been under the same weather pattern in a world without human-induced climate change.

The UK recognises that the current impacts of climate change are leading to losses and damages including in the British Overseas Territories. The UK welcomes the establishment of new funding arrangements for loss and damage including a fund and will play an active role on the Transitional Committee set up to progress these issues. Terms of any funding arrangements are yet to be developed so it is not possible to say at this stage who will be eligible.

Studies indicate that the long-term growth benefit from avoiding climate change will exceed the cost of co-ordinated global action to tackle climate change by helping to avoid the potentially catastrophic implications of failing to act. Most notable of these studies is the Stern review, which found that the global costs of climate change could be between 5% and 20% of GDP per annum if we fail to act, dwarfing the costs of effective international action, estimated at 1-2% of global per capita consumption by 2050^l. Most published analysis also suggests that current UK ambition on climate change can be achieved without large impacts on overall short-term economic output.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) does not possess an analysis of the historical impact of climate change and energy policies on the UK's gross domestic product (GDP). However, as part of the Carbon Plan, the impacts of the policies to meet the first three Carbon Budgets and illustrative measures to meet the fourth budget were modelled using the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Computable General Equilibrium model². It should be noted that there is substantial uncertainty around the results of this modelling, and this is inherent in all similar analyses.

The HMRC model estimated that the first three carbon budgets could be met at an average cost of around 0.4% of GDP over the period 2011-22 (i.e. the level of GDP is on average 0.4% lower compared to a baseline scenario without carbon budget policies), and the fourth carbon budget could be met at an average cost of around 0.6% of GDP over the period 2023-27. The actual impacts on GDP will depend on a range of factors, including fossil fuel prices and future technology costs.

As stated above, there is significant uncertainty around these estimates. Furthermore, certain potential costs and benefits were not reflected in the HMRC model at the time of the Carbon Plan. Importantly, innovation benefits and the productivity improvements from energy efficiency were not captured, nor are the benefits on future UK growth of the avoided risks from global climate change. Furthermore, it should be noted that the modelling largely assumes that the UK acts unilaterally. Potential welfare costs of resulting behaviour changes are not accounted for, or any cost or time overruns in policy delivery. Each of these excluded factors also has a high degree of uncertainty with regards to scale.¹http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407012453/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm² The results of this analysis are presented in Annex B of the Carbon Plan (2011), available on DECC's website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-carbon-plan-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions--2

DECC works closely with other Government Departments, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, as well as FCO's attaché network, to address climate change. Within this, we co-operate with the FCO in relation to the effects of climate change in the polar regions. Some of the ways in which we work together include:

DECC is a member of the Cross-Whitehall Arctic Network, hosted by the FCO, which regularly meets to discuss all matters pertaining to the Arctic including the impacts of climate change.

DECC and the FCO are working together to produce the climate change elements of the Government's Arctic Policy Framework, which will be published this summer.

Both DECC and the FCO work closely with the Natural Environment Research Council, and the British Antarctic Survey in particular, on developing Arctic and Antarctic climate science.

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey) has not had any recent discussions with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), regarding its research into climate change in the polar regions. However, I visited BAS in 2011, to learn more about its research work. My officials are in regular contact with BAS scientists and one of its scientists has been working on a part-time basis with DECC as a Government Knowledge Integrator, since August 2012.

DECC Ministers meet regularly with ministerial colleagues from other Government Departments to discuss Government business. However, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey) has not met the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) recently to discuss the security implications of climate change for the UK.

The UK recognises that climate change has the potential to act as a "threat-multiplier", exacerbating existing tensions and resource stresses. This poses a risk to the security and prosperity of the UK. The Department is in regular dialogue with other Government Departments, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development, as we work together on these issues.

DECC co-operates with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) across its range of international work on climate change: demonstrating leadership domestically and through the EU; building the case for global ambition in key countries, supporting the development of low carbon resilient economies, and ensuring progress within-the international negotiations. This includes working with countries according to their individual circumstances.

In the case of Central America, FCO posts have made use of their bi-lateral funds to increase public awareness of issues in their host countries, including the effects of climate change and the need for international action. These projects are diverse and include climate change education in Belize, biodiversity protection work in Costa Rica and a regional forum on climate change challenges, held in San Salvador.

In addition, the UK has provided £15 million of climate finance to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. This facility assists developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (all activities commonly referred to as "REDD+") by providing value to standing forests.

A significant proportion of Central American countries are already participants in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. These include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Further details on the specific activities supported in Central American countries can be found here:

http://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/redd-country-participants

The UK has also provided £100 million of climate finance to the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) in low income countries. This is part of the Climate Investment Funds. The SREP supports a number of pilot countries, including Honduras, to scale up the deployment of renewable energy solutions and expand renewables markets. Further details on the specific activities supported in Honduras can be found here:

https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cifnet/?q=country/honduras

The UK Government has taken action to increase public awareness of the likely effects of climate change. This included funding the Met Office Hadley Centre to

produce a map in 2011 outlining some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 °C (7 °F) above the pre-industrial climate average. The map showed that this average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe and gave an indication of what the likely implications could be for different parts of the world, including Central America.

DECC co-operates with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) across its range of international work on climate change: demonstrating leadership domestically and through the EU; building the case for global ambition in key countries, supporting the development of low carbon resilient economies, and ensuring progress within-the international negotiations. This includes working with countries according to their individual circumstances.

In the case of Central America, FCO posts have made use of their bi-lateral funds to increase public awareness of issues in their host countries, including the effects of climate change and the need for international action. These projects are diverse and include climate change education in Belize, biodiversity protection work in Costa Rica and a regional forum on climate change challenges, held in San Salvador.

In addition, the UK has provided £15 million of climate finance to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. This facility assists developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (all activities commonly referred to as "REDD+") by providing value to standing forests.

A significant proportion of Central American countries are already participants in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. These include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Further details on the specific activities supported in Central American countries can be found here:

http://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/redd-country-participants

The UK has also provided £100 million of climate finance to the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) in low income countries. This is part of the Climate Investment Funds. The SREP supports a number of pilot countries, including Honduras, to scale up the deployment of renewable energy solutions and expand renewables markets. Further details on the specific activities supported in Honduras can be found here:

https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cifnet/?q=country/honduras

The UK Government has taken action to increase public awareness of the likely effects of climate change. This included funding the Met Office Hadley Centre to

produce a map in 2011 outlining some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 °C (7 °F) above the pre-industrial climate average. The map showed that this average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe and gave an indication of what the likely implications could be for different parts of the world, including Central America.

The Department is contributing to the Arctic Research Programme (ARP) of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which aims to improve our capability to predict changes in the Arctic, particularly over timescales of months to decades, including regional impacts and the potential for feedbacks on the global Earth System.

Part of this programme includes observational measurements to quantity and understand better methane release from the Arctic, including from continental shelves under the Arctic Ocean. The ARP is also collaborating with Canadian scientists and the Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC), on the study of methane release from Arctic permafrost.

The most recent data suggest that marine sources of methane in the Arctic are currently insignificant and, although Arctic terrestrial methane emissions may be increasing in places, overall there has been no significant increase.

Current evidence suggests that recent methane release in the Arctic has had limited effect on the climate but that much larger emissions, if they were to occur in the future, would potentially have a major impact. These are considered most likely to arise from land-based permafrost sources rather than from marine sources, but further research is required to understand better the risks.

Further information on the ARP is available at:

http://www.arctic.ac.uk/programme/

The Department contributed to the Foresight report, on the International Dimensions of Climate Change which was published in 2011. The report provides an overview of the evidence of threats and opportunities to the UK from international climate change and includes a section on the Overseas Territories. The report is available from:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/international-dimensions/11-1042-international-dimensions-of-climate-change.pdf