The first report from a programme that will allow people to explore projections of climate change through the 21st century was welcomed by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today.

The £2 million Defra-funded programme consists of five reports and an interactive website, known as UKCIP08. The project will bring together climate science from the Met Office to provide information to decision makers, academics and others, on the current climate, and possible future changes. Its interactive website will provide customisable climate change projections when it launches in late 2008.

The first report from UKCIP08, The climate of the United Kingdom and recent trends, was published today. It states:

• Central England Temperature has risen by about a degree Celsius since the 1970s, with 2006 being the warmest yet. It is likely that there has been a significant influence from human activity on the recent warming.
• Sea surface temperatures around the UK coast have risen over the past three decades, by about 0.7C.
• Severe windstorms around the UK have become more frequent in the past few decades, but no higher than levels seen at the beginning of the last century.

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Hilary Benn said: "As the range of countries gathered in Bali shows, climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a global community and to which no-one is immune. That is why we need the conference to agree to start negotiations on a new global deal.

"This report shows that climate change is happening in the UK - and it's happening now. All of us - governments, businesses and individuals - need to be able to plan for the future. This groundbreaking initiative, when completed in late 2008, will be designed to help people investigate the possible future climate at the click of a mouse.

"It will put us face to face with what the climate might look like in our own back yard and challenge us to think about how to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change."

'The Climate of the United Kingdom and Recent Trends' report contains information about key climate variables from 1961 to 2006. It provides maps and graphs to show long term averages and changes between 1961 and 2006 with information presented annually and by season. Most of the data is from the Met Office, with additional material from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and IPCC.

(GK)