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Evaluation of a specific policy – the Adaptation Reporting Power
UK

Purpose: The Climate Change Act (2008) gives the UK government the authority to ask public and private sector organisations to report under the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP). Organisations responsible for key services and infrastructure can be asked to assess the risk of climate change on their work and describe how they will address these risks. The first ARP process (2012) targeted 91 organisations responsible for national infrastructure. The Adaptation Sub-Committee (ASC) evaluated this first ARP report.

Approach: The ASC assessed the ARP policy against three principles to ensure that it made a positive contribution to the national adaptation effort: usefulness, robustness; and cost-effectiveness.

Under ‘usefulness’ the ASC recommended that the ARP should encourage reporting organisations to identify and address their risks, particularly those who previously had a low awareness of adaptation. The outputs from the ARP report should also help to inform the Government’s adaptation policy. Under ‘robustness’ the ASC proposed that the reports should be based on quantitative assessments of risk and there should be a clear quality assurance process in place.

Under ‘cost-effectiveness’ the ASC recommended that the ARP should produce useful, low-cost reports, focussing on adaptation priorities, but avoiding duplication with existing regulatory requirements.

The key stakeholders (the reporting organisations) were given the opportunity for tailored support, they attended a stakeholder conference, and participated in discussions on sector-level assessments. They were also invited to comment on the ARP process and how it might be improved.

Challenges addressed:

• Stakeholders actively involved in the process through support, workshops and conferences to enable two-way discussion.
• Outcomes (recommendations) were considered when developing the second ARP (2014).
• Qualitative and quantitative elements of the policy were assessed to ensure that both the finance and contextual aspects of implementing the policy were considered.
• An independent body (ASC) carried out the assessment to ensure transparency and publicise the lessons learned from a trusted source.

Further details are available at: http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/National%20level%20ME%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom.pdf

http://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/letter-advice-on-the-strategy-for-the-second-round-adaptation-reporting-power-5-november-2012/