The use and usability of the Local Authority Climate Service in UK Local Authorities

The new Local Authority Climate Service (LACS) (launched in October 2024) offers a novel method of delivering UK climate projection information to end users. The LACS has been developed in response to a need from Local Authorities (LAs) for clear and authoritative information to raise awareness on the need to adapt to climate change, identifying and justifying priority risks and opportunities, and gathering evidence to support adaptation planning. The LACS platform enables LAs to: access ready-to-use climate information for their local area, develop a climate report summarising key results for awareness raising, obtain helpful resources and further support for adaptation planning. To explore how this method of delivering climate information is being used, tailored and communicated by users, twenty-two interviews were conducted between December 2024 and March 2025 with staff at Local and Combined Authorities in the UK. These were semi-structured, online interviews each lasting approx. 1 hour. We employed thematic analysis on the interview transcripts to explore current engagement with and anticipated use of the LACS, user feedback on functionality and usability of the service, as well as specific insights on the use of the LACS to progress organisational adaptation. Subsequently, the insights of these interviews fed into the development of three case studies which outline the current practical use of LACS in adaptation at the local level. The findings provide key insights for other European national met organisations or other climate service providers supporting adaptation and resilience planning at the local scale. Municipal planners need easy to access, easy to understand and easy to apply climate information, that moves beyond just greater granularity but considers climate change in the form of changing impacts relevant to their service delivery. Moving climate data away from the highly technical to the highly useable.