Wetherby campaigner takes government to High Court over 'failure to protect people from climate change'
A disability campaigner from Wetherby is among those challenging the government over its record on climate change, arguing that "extreme heat" is threatening his health.
Doug Paulley, 46, has a number of health conditions that campaign group Friends of the Earth argued are being exacerbated by rising summer temperatures, causing him distress and discomfort.
This week, the group took a legal challenge to the High Court in London over what it described as "the UK government’s failure to protect people, property and infrastructure from the foreseeable impacts of accelerating climate change".
Friends of the Earth and the co-claimants argued that the current National Adaptation Programme, that sets out the government’s climate goals, falls short in setting out "adaptation objectives".
Mr Paulley, who lives in a care home, has an impairment that affects his nervous system and has contributed to several strokes, as well as diabetes and a heart condition.
He said: "Disabled people are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, but once again they have been badly let down by an adaptation plan that completely fails to address the particular - and often severe - threats we face from extreme weather like flooding and heatwaves, and wider impacts such as power cuts during severe storms.
"The lack of planning makes me fearful that in an emergency disabled people won’t be properly protected.
"We urgently need a new adaptation programme that recognises the acute threat disabled people face and includes proper planning to protect them, such as mandatory care home procedures for protecting residents from flooding and extreme heatwaves."
Friends of the Earth has argued that people like Doug are "disproportionately affected by the impacts of the climate crisis" and "the government’s failure to produce a credible or lawful plan".
Under the Climate Change Act 2008, it is required to produce and implement a National Adaptation Programme (NAP) every five years, the latest having been published in July last year. The programme sets out the government’s climate adaptation objectives, along with its plans and policies for meeting them.
This should aim to protect communities in the UK from the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, flooding and coastal erosion.
But campaigners have called on ministers to "strengthen" the NAP, having said that the current programme “falls far short of what is required".
Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Alison Dilworth said: "Our homes, lives and livelihoods are being put at risk by the government’s weak, and we believe unlawful, climate adaptation plans.
"The failure to make the nation more resilient to the floods, storms and heatwaves that are increasingly battering Britain is already affecting millions of people across the country – with older and disabled people among those most at risk.
"Labour must deliver on its pre-election pledge to improve resilience and preparation by urgently drawing up a much tougher climate adaptation programme to prepare the UK for the enormous challenges of a dangerously warming planet, with those most affected involved in its planning."
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has opposed the legal challenge at the two-day hearing in London. A Defra spokesperson said: “The climate and nature crises are the greatest long-term global challenge we face as a nation.
“As we transition to become a clean energy economy and stride towards net zero, we must also take robust action to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate.
“This Government will ensure that the UK is prepared for these changes by strengthening resilience across government and local communities. We will waste no time in delivering on this by improving the durability of our infrastructure, enhancing protections against flooding and planting millions of trees all while turbocharging green growth.”