Understanding the risks from Climate Change: Together for a Climate-Ready Gwent

Gwent PSB has commissioned the development of a Climate Change Risk Assessment for the region to understand the risks faced now, and in the future. This will allow us to plan how we prioritise actions to minimise the impact these risks have on communities across the region.

The organisations that make up Gwent PSB are committed to working together to make sure that we get the best understanding we can of the risks faced by climate change – this process has been funded by Natural Resources Wales.

According to the Wales Climate Change Risk summary in the next 20 years we can expect:

• warmer and wetter winters
• hotter and drier summers
• high chance of extreme weather
• increase our exposure to weather-related hazards:
• increased frequency and intensity of wildfire.

We can also expect

• increases in average and extreme temperatures, in winter and summer.
• flooding and water scarcity (drought)
• increased coastal flooding and erosion from sea level rise
• sea temperature rise and ocean acidification.

After 2050, the extent of further climate change will depend on future global emissions of greenhouse gases. If the world cuts emissions rapidly to Net Zero, there is a good chance of limiting global temperature increase to below 2ºC. If not, we will see higher levels of warming and much more extreme impacts.

Evidence for the third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) Summary for Wales.

The impacts are already shaping life in Gwent.

The Gwent Climate Change Risk Assessment will help us understand those risks together. This region-wide initiative brings public services, communities, and decision-makers around the same table to plan for a safer, stronger future.

By March 2026, the organisations that make up Gwent PSB will have a better understanding of these risks and will be able to consider practical insights and tools to move towards a Climate Ready Gwent.

Understanding Climate risks: the process >>