New Publication Alert: Climate Change Committee: 4th Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk – and water reuse is included!
About the report
To get a full understanding of the report, we recommend reading the full publication.
Today, 20th May 2026, the Climate Change Committee have released their fourth independent assessment of UK climate risk.
The highly influential Climate Change Committee is tasked with serving as an independent advisor to the UK Government on assessing climate risk in the UK. Their latest assessment is about ‘spreading hope, not fear’ and proposes many solutions to our climate challenges.
Water is mentioned extensively throughout the report, both in terms of supply resource challenges and flood resilience. The now well-recognised figure that 60% of the 5-billion-litre daily deficit will come from reducing demand for water is included.
The committee proposes that water reuse, including rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling, is a ‘cost-effective’ option for improving water efficiency and reducing demand.
The headline demand within this area is a key recommendation to the government: ensuring our new developments are drought-sensitive by incorporating water-efficient technologies.
Other key points to note…
- The report also recognises that retrofitting water-efficient technologies is less cost-effective than incorporating them at new build stage.
- Without implementing water efficiency measures, economic losses in commercial settings would be up to £2.9 billion in the 2030s.
Our take
It is great to see water reuse included in the report as a solution to our climate challenges. The mention in such an important document signals the wider appetite for legislative change on rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems in the UK.
We believe that every new development now constructed without either rainwater harvesting or greywater recycling compounds the problem of water scarcity.
It is great to see the recognition that water-efficient technologies are most cost-effective when installed at the new build stage, rather than when retrofitted. We do still see new build projects where water reuse is value engineered out of schemes to save costs, and would urge developers, contractors and engineers to consider this technology as integral to the building design.
Overall, we believe this sends a strong signal to the government to improve the uptake of water reuse in the UK.
