Adaptation sub-committee appointed

Adaptation sub-committee on climate change was set-up under the Climate Change Act 2008 to advise Government on its work on the national Climate Change Risk Assessment, and ensure that the Government’s Adaptation Programme enables England to prepare effectively for the impacts of climate change.

The six members appointed today will be in place for five years, chaired by Lord john Krebs:

• Dr Sam Fankhauser - Principal Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics. He is a former Deputy Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and former Managing Director (Strategic Advice) at IDEAcarbon.
• Professor Martin Parry - Visiting professor at the Centre for Environmental Policy and a visiting research fellow at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London. Martin has previously chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change task group on Scenarios for Climate Impact Assessment and was co-chair of the IPCC working group II, focusing on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
• Professor Jim Hall - Professor of Earth Systems Engineering at Newcastle University where his research activities focus on flood risk assessment, climate change impacts, adaptation and decision making under uncertainty. Jim is also Deputy Director (Engineering) of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Flood Risk Management. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.
• Dr Andrew Dlugolecki - Consultant on climate change and the insurance and finance sector. Prior to this he had a long career at General Accident and a period as Director of General Insurance Development at Aviva (then CGNU). He has also published extensively on the impacts of climate change on the insurance and finance sector, independently and as an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Baroness Barbara Young - Chairs of the Care Quality Commission – the independent regulator for the quality of health and social care. Prior to joining the Care Quality Commission in 2008 Barbara worked as the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, as Chairman of the then English Nature and as Chief executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
• Mr Graham Wynne - Spent the last 20 years working in senior positions at the Royal Society for the protection of Birds, where he is currently Chief Executive. During this time he has worked on significant international and local conservation and ecology projects.

Environment minister Hilary Benn said: “The recent publication of the UK Climate Projections shows how important it is for the country to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. The Adaptation Sub-Committee will play a significant role in helping to achieve this. The founding members of the Sub-Committee are leading experts in their fields, and their knowledge will make a vital contribution in our efforts to adapt to climate change.”

Lord Krebs welcomed the appointments saying: “I am very pleased that I will be working with such distinguished experts. Their wide ranging experience will ensure that the Committee can provide the Government with the best possible advice on the risks to the UK from climate change and the Government’s plans to increase preparedness”.

These appointments were made jointly between the Government and the Devolved Administrations. The Welsh Assembly Government represented the Devolved Administrations in the selection process.

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