Recommendation 10

Regulation has an important role to play in developing resilience. Written submissions to us highlighted that resilience to climate change, including extreme weather, requires a strategic and coordinated approach to regulatory frameworks.18 Most infrastructure regulators do not have specific duties regarding climate resilience. Ofwat is the exception and has had a more positive impact on infrastructure climate change adaptation than other regulators due to its explicit adaptation requirement. The Cabinet Office has committed to reviewing existing regulatory regimes on resilience to ensure they are fit for purpose and putting resilience standards in place by 2030.19 It told us that it has met the Institute of Regulation, the UK Regulators Network and critical national infrastructure sectors to understand the approach that should be taken on standards and goals. It highlighted that it wanted to build up an evidence base to work out if current standards are good enough and then, due to the complexity of regulating critical national infrastructure sectors, including interactions between different regulations, put in place something coherent and consistent by 2030.20