Recommendation 4

The Government has begun to recognise the risks posed by the extensive interdependencies between CNI sectors. There is some promising work underway on the development of ‘digital twins’ to model climate-related infrastructure interdependencies, on which we would welcome further Government investment. The new CNI Knowledge Base is also a very positive development. It remains to be seen, however, how the Government will connect this vital analysis to infrastructure operators and regulators, whether operators will be held to account on their responses, and how the Knowledge Base will inform policy-making on climate adaptation. The 50 Readiness for storms ahead? Critical national infrastructure in an age of climate change Government also has unique powers to establish other mechanisms to improve oversight of interdependencies overall—such as through joint reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power—but it has so far failed to use them.