How is climate change affecting the UK?

The events below were made more likely, or more extreme, by climate change.

Signs of coastal erosion in Happisburgh, Norfolk: people's back gardens disappearing into the sea

1. Norfolk sliding into the sea

People in Happisburgh are losing their homes to the sea.

Erosion, caused by waves attacking the cliffs, has claimed as many as 35 houses in the past decade. Other households, like those pictured, fear the same fate. The unlucky ones don't get a penny of compensation.

Coastal erosion will continue to get worse as sea levels rise.

A rescue worker walks in front of marooned tree on a smouldering Saddleworth Moor after wildfires

2. North West moorlands up in smoke

Saddleworth Moor was singed during the 2018 heatwave (pictured).

Record summer temperatures led to moors like Saddleworth burning for days on end – damaging nature, threatening local towns and increasing air pollution.

More global warming and more intense heatwaves could well lead to wildfires becoming a regular threat.

Extreme weather is threatening people's lives and livelihoods

Demand protection for people at risk

A residential street in York turns into a river during Storm Desmond in 2015: car roofs, only just visible, poke out of the water.

3. York and Leeds under water

Streets like this one in York turned into rivers during Storm Desmond in 2015.

Flooding devastated both Leeds and York. People had to be evacuated by boat as water levels rose higher and higher.

Climate change had made the flooding 40% more likely. And it will only get worse if governments don't act fast.

Two Atlantic Puffins in breeding plumage. Picture taken at Sumburgh Head, Shetland, UK.

4. Vanishing seabirds in the Shetlands

Sumburgh Head (pictured) is one of the UK’s most important sites for puffins, terns and kittiwakes.

In little under 20 years, the puffin population has plummeted from 33,000 to just 570.

Many seabirds in the North Sea and North Atlantic are struggling to find food because of the effects of climate change on their prey.

A cow standing in flood water that has deluged its barn with other cattle in the background

5. Flooding in Somerset too

In winter 2014, flood waters inundated parts of the region: swamping properties, ruining crops and endangering life.

As the planet warms, we're going to get more intense bouts of flooding, causing misery for those directly affected. It's also bad news for groceries – with lower crop yields likely to ramp up food prices.

Emerging into a parched wheat field below Ramslye Wood, Kent, during the 2018 drought.

6. Scorched farms in the South

It's not just downpours that threaten UK farming and the cost of living.

The 2018 heatwave left land, like this wheat field in Ramslye Wood, completely parched. Weeks on end with no rain spelt misery for farms across Surrey, Kent and East Anglia.

Climate change increases the chances of more intense heatwaves.

Pouring concrete to plug the hole in the sea wall below Sea Lawn Terrace at Dawlish, 24 February 2014.

7. Lost railways in Devon and Cornwall

Brutal Atlantic storms toppled a stretch of sea wall (pictured) at Dawlish Warren – taking the railway track with it.

As a result, the mainline train service to London was out of action for months.

We can expect more cancellations and delays due to extreme weather in the future.