Executive summary
Coventry is already feeling the effects of climate change, and it's time for us all to take action. Our summers are getting hotter, our winters wetter, and extreme weather events like floods and heatwaves are becoming more common. These changes are affecting our homes, businesses, and daily lives.
This strategy is Coventry’s plan to adapt to these changes and make our city more resilient for its residents, businesses and visitors to the city as a business and tourist destination. It’s not just about what the Council is doing – everyone in Coventry has a part to play. By working together, we can protect our city and make it a better place for future generations.
What are the risks?
The strategy identifies several key risks that could impact Coventry in the coming years. Rising temperatures pose a threat to public health, food security, and the wellbeing of vulnerable groups. Hotter, drier summers will put pressure on water supplies, potentially affecting household water quality and public services, while flooding from heavier rainfall threatens homes, communities, businesses and infrastructure. Our essential services, such as energy, transport, and water networks, face potential disruption from climate-related failures. The risks impact directly on the local economy as well as extending to the delivery of health and social care, and even education services, which may be strained by these climate challenges. Finally, the role of natural ecosystems in the city is under threat, and protecting green spaces will be essential for preserving biodiversity and reducing the urban heat island effect and risks of flooding.
How are we going to address these risks?
To make Coventry resilient to climate change, we need everyone to work together. This means coordinating efforts across the city, with organisations and residents sharing resources and ideas to create the best possible solutions. Our approach will focus on people, ensuring that the specific needs of different communities are taken into account, so no one is left behind. We will also take care of our natural environment by working with nature to enhance green spaces and biodiversity, making the city more resilient. Finally, we’ll embrace innovative and sustainable practices to design and maintain spaces that can withstand the impacts of climate change.
What are we going to do – the actions?
This strategy includes a range of actions to make Coventry more resilient to climate change and where possible to adapt to the changes we face. We plan to support local food production, helping families in need through community food hubs and urban agriculture projects.
We’ll improve the city’s water conservation by promoting water-saving campaigns, the development of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SUDs) and enhancing water quality monitoring. To address rising temperatures, we will develop cooling centres, plant more trees, promote turf roofs and living walls and assess how new developments can be more energy efficient in regulating temperatures including cooling as well as heating.
We also need to upgrade infrastructure, from retrofitting health facilities to making schools climate-adaptive, ensuring the procurement of services are aware of the need to address adaptation and resilience issues and creating a comprehensive plan for creating new areas of green spaces especially where there are heat deserts and for nature conservation particularly for those communities where access to greenspace is poor and the quality of locations are in need of improvement especially where areas are heavily built up creating heat islands.
It is vital that we raise public awareness of the real risks and the effects that extreme weather events can have on our communities, society and economy and to provide the right information guidance and support people and businesses to plan and prepare for those things which they can do to protect themselves their homes and their businesses. Building a climate-resilient Coventry requires all of us to be involved.
The Council has laid out a plan, but the success of this strategy depends on the collective efforts of the partnership and the wider community itself. Everyone can contribute, whether by conserving water, reducing waste, supporting local food initiatives, or getting involved in greening our neighbourhoods.
By working together, we can ensure Coventry not only adapts to the challenges ahead but thrives as a sustainable, healthy, and vibrant city for generations to come and is a safe attractive visitor destination that projects a positive green image to the rest of the world.
Further reading
For more information on the details of this strategy, please read the: