"Extreme weather is the 'new normal'" says Pentland Centre chair from Paris

Commenting from COP21 on the floods in Cumbria, Lancaster University Professor Gail Whiteman says:

“Liz Truss’ comment about how the flood defences in Cumbria were only breached because of extreme weather conditions is rather short sighted. Thanks to climate change, extreme weather is the new normal.  And that is hugely problematic.  The Cumbria floods are a personal reality check here in Paris, everyone is talking about it and Al Gore specifically mentioned the floods in Cumbria and Chennai in his speech. Mr Gore was speaking to over 600 executives at the Council Member meeting of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

“Unless serious commitments are made here in Paris, extreme weather will increase with global warming and thus climate adaptation measures, like flood defences, need to constantly be updated. What may be appear to be sufficient to withstand a 1/100 year event can become quickly out of date as the incidence of extreme weather ramps up and becomes more unpredictable.”

Professor Whiteman is the Chair of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University.