Advancing Evidence and Policy for Climate Resilience: Insights from the Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment

Submit your abstract here!

Introduction

The Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4), mandated by the Climate Change Act 2008, will evaluate climate-related risks and opportunities facing the UK. The Government will publish CCRA4 in 2027. It will be informed by an Independent Assessment for the CCRA4 (CCRA4-IA), to be published on 20 May 2026. This Independent Assessment will include a Technical Report that reviews the latest evidence and examines risk magnitude, and a new Well-Adapted UK Report setting out the adaptation needed to address the risks identified in the Technical Report. 

This special issue seeks to provide a scholarly platform for sharing research that complements the CCRA process, including the fourth round of climate adaptation reporting and CCR4-IA, offering insights into methodologies, sectoral analyses, adaptation strategies, policy implications, and/or adaptation progress within the UK since the 2008 Climate Change Act..

Scope and Topics

We invite original research articles, reviews, and case studies addressing themes aligned with CCRA4, including but not limited to:

• Risk and Opportunity Assessment: Advances in evaluating climate-induced risks across the UK’s economy, health, infrastructure, and natural environment.
• Urgency and Adaptation Frameworks: Methodological innovations in urgency scoring and prioritization prioritisation of adaptation actions.
• Sectoral and Regional Perspectives: Climate risk implications for agriculture, water resources, energy systems, and urban environments.
• Scenario Analysis and Modelling: Exploring future climate and socio-economic scenarios for the 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s.
• Policy Integration: Linking risk assessment outcomes to National Adaptation Plans and resilience strategies.
• Data and Evidence Gaps: Contributions addressing gaps identified in the CCRA4 Independent Assessment process.
• Interdisciplinary Approaches: Combining climate science, economics, social science, and governance for holistic risk management.

Submission Guidelines

• Manuscripts should follow the journal’s author guidelines
• All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review
• Accepted papers will be published online first and compiled into the special issue.

You can submit your full paper here. Once you have registered, navigate to the journal that you wish to submit to. Choose article type "Themed Issue" and then the specific name from the drop-down menu on screen.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Important Dates

•    Abstract deadline: Friday 5 June 2026 using this MS form
•    Deadline of full paper submissions: Friday 4 September 2026

Why Contribute?

This special issue offers an opportunity to influence policy and practice for climate resilience, ensuring that research informs the UK’s adaptation agenda during a critical decade.