Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme

The Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (MOHCCP) plays a vital role in providing relevant scientific evidence for UK government. This evidence informs policy decision making to enables UK government to address the societal challenges of climate change. This helps to build a more resilient and sustainable future to avoid the worst impacts of climate change for future generations.

In 2024, we published a blog on the role of the MOHCCP and how its research meets UK government evidence needs, supporting the UK and global climate community to understand and respond to climate challenges.

Through significant collaborations with academic partners in the UK and internationally, MOHCCP research provides the UK government with timely and policy-relevant scientific evidence and advice. Our research benefits national and international climate science and develops the core UK climate science infrastructure. This enables the global climate community to understand and respond to climate challenges.

Funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and managed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, MOHCCP delivers immediate impact and value by developing core climate science capability (through modelling, data and infrastructure) and by delivering scientific knowledge and expertise. 

The MOHCCP continues its vital work through the 2024-2027 workplan, with a focus on addressing emerging climate risks and supporting the UK’s net-zero transition. This is a crucial time for our planet as we try and slow global annual temperature increases as we get closer to the 1.5C Paris goal. 

The new work plan was co-developed with UK Government and the Climate Programme’s independent science review group. Science produced during this programme will underpin the climate research and data needs of the 4th Climate Change Risk Assessment (see below) and the UK contribution to the 7th IPCC assessment. Work has already begun supporting an IPCC special report on climate change and cities and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 7.  

Insights from our research is critical for planning and building climate-resilient infrastructure, essential for maintaining public safety and economic stability of key industries, such as agriculture, insurance, and energy, by providing the data needed to manage climate risks effectively. This not only protects jobs and livelihoods but also ensures that the UK can continue to thrive in a changing climate. 

Climate change evidence

The effects of climate change are already clear, both here in the UK and across the world.

Some of these effects include:

• Warming of land, ocean, and atmosphere
• Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events
• Melting snow and ice
• Rising sea levels

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports

The latest assessments from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Human activities are the dominant cause of warming since the mid-20th century. Leading scientists from around the world compile IPCC reports, spending their time assessing evidence from scientific, technical and socio-economic publications. Many Met Office scientists have played a leading role in writing the reports, which also widely use Met Office science.

The 4th Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4) Government Report

The Met Office is leading the consortium to produce the CCRA4-IA Technical Report on behalf of the UK’s independent adviser, The Climate Change Committee (CCC), who are coordinating the Independent Assessment (CCRA4-IA). This will be published in 2026, and will form the basis of the Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA4) which is due to be laid in Parliament by the UK Government in January 2027. 

The third Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk (CCRA-IA3) was publised by the CCC in June 2021. The report provides advice to UK Government on the priority climate change risks and opportunities in the UK, alongside statutory adaptation advice. The government response to the is the CCRA-IA3 was publihsed in January 2022 - the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), which recognised the unprecedented challenge of ensuring the UK is resilient to climate change and setting out the work already underway to meet that challenge.

CCRA3 informed the development of the Defra-led National Adaptation Programme (NAP). Published in In July 2023, NAP3 sets out a 5-year programme of action to build the UK’s resilience to climate change. It is part of the statutory process set out under the Climate Change Act, 2008. Met Office science has played a vital role in informing NAP3, with the provision of robust and actionable science to help inform adaptation action.

The Paris Agreement and climate negotiations

The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, was a turning point in international climate negotiations. Almost every country agreed to take collective global action to tackle climate change.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries have committed to limit global warming to 2 °C above pre-industrial averages. The countries also agree to:

• if possible, limit warming to 1.5 °C
• increase measures to adapt to climate change
• provide enhanced support to developing countries.

The current global warming level (relevant to the Paris Agreement), is a measure of global warming since pre-industrial conditions without the influence of the ups and downs of year-to-year temperature variations. Multiple estimates point towards a current global warming level of 1.3°C, which is measured using average temperatures over the last decade and projected temperatures over next decade. A Met Office-led paper on the methodology of the current global warming level assessment can be found here. Most of the additional temperature rise since pre-industrial times is associated with the rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases from human activities. Our climate dashboard provides insights on efforts to keep to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C.