Asylum: Climate Change
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) current and (b) future impact of the number of people seeking asylum in the UK because of the impact of climate change in their countries of origin.
Answered by Alex Norris
The Home Office regularly assess all potential current and future causes of asylum and irregular migration to the UK, including the impact of climate change on the movement of people. The Home Office and other Government departments consider all available evidence to assess the situation.
There is mixed evidence on the impact of climate change on migration flows. FCDO conducted a Rapid Evidence Assessment and found strong evidence that climatic shock events are linked to increased internal and, to a lesser extent, international, migration. In the medium- to long-term, other gradual climate-related emergencies may impact migratory movements, though this is likely to be within the borders or to the immediate neighbours of countries with low climate resilience. The report found there are no rigorous global estimates of the number of people displaced by or migrating in response to weather shocks or climate change, and high-end projections of future climate-related migration are not considered credible.
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