{"id":86103,"date":"2026-05-18T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T09:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=news&#038;p=86103"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T09:57:34","slug":"the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p>On 20 May, the Climate Change Committee will publish its latest assessment of how well &ndash; or poorly &ndash; the UK is preparing for the impacts of climate change. This blog by Public First, informed by work undertaken with the Grantham Research Institute, presents findings from recent polling on what the British public thinks about adapting to climate change. Among the findings are that people can see that the weather is changing but there&rsquo;s no settled language for describing it; impacts are expected immediately; weather changes are already making life harder; and the country doesn&rsquo;t feel built for the weather it has, let alone the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a class=\"link link--external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/pfdatablog.com\/blog\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\" aria-describedby=\"link-description-new-window\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">External link to blog&#65279;<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M14.42 1.04L3.2.7a.8.8 0 00-.8.76v.1a.8.8 0 00.76.7l9.39.3L.93 14.16c-.3.3-.3.8 0 1.1l.09.08c.3.23.73.2 1.01-.07L13.65 3.65l.29 9.4a.8.8 0 00.8.76.79.79 0 00.77-.8L15.17 1.8a.82.82 0 00-.75-.76z\" fill=\"#2e3152\"><\/path><\/svg><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p>This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals what the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":86106,"template":"","tags":[652,2185,177,4790,4860,437],"news-category":[73],"topic_area":[4692,4783],"class_list":["post-86103","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-climate-change-impacts","tag-climate-change-risk-assessment","tag-extreme-weather","tag-polling","tag-public-perception","tag-uk","news-category-30-in-the-news","topic_area-adaptation-and-resilience","topic_area-uk-adaptation-policy"],"acf":{"exclude_from_sync":{"ref_value":"field_560538b0e7350","value":"0","type":false,"post_type":""},"show_translations_widget":{"ref_value":"field_6203d588c41e8","value":"0","type":false,"post_type":""},"downloads":{"ref_value":"field_52f16cc1a80f2","value":false,"type":"repeater","post_type":""},"rss_newsletter":{"ref_value":"field_54f5c2c1544d8","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"profile_link":{"ref_value":"field_52f164b5189e9","value":["the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet"],"type":"relationship","post_type":""},"spotlight":{"ref_value":"field_52f80896506d3","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"article_link":{"ref_value":"field_52eee3c7f0586","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"article_link_title":{"ref_value":"field_5322399d89d42","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T09:57:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"788\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/\",\"name\":\"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T09:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-18T09:57:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":788,\"caption\":\"Photo: Chris Gallagher, Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News & commentaries\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news-and-commentary\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"In the news\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news-category\\\/30-in-the-news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\",\"name\":\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"description\":\"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","description":"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","og_description":"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/","og_site_name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","article_modified_time":"2026-05-18T09:57:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":788,"url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/","name":"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-18T09:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-18T09:57:34+00:00","description":"This blog presents results from recent polling that reveals how the British public thinks about adapting to climate change.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg","width":1200,"height":788,"caption":"Photo: Chris Gallagher, Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/the-public-knows-the-weather-is-changing-but-politics-hasnt-caught-up-yet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News & commentaries","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news-and-commentary\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"In the news","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news-category\/30-in-the-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The public knows the weather is changing, but politics hasn\u2019t caught up yet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/","name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","description":"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":["Climate change impacts","Climate Change Risk Assessment","extreme weather","polling","public perception","UK"],"news-category":["In the news"],"topic_area":["Adaptation and resilience","UK adaptation policy"]},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/chris-gallagher-9Jgn8hSYUFc-unsplash-cropped-small.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/86103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/86103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86111,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/86103\/revisions\/86111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86103"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=86103"},{"taxonomy":"topic_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_area?post=86103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}