There is widespread acknowledgement that climate change is with us and is set to intensify (IPCC 2007, Richardson et al 2011). Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is deemed a necessity, but there is a growing awareness of the need to adapt to the associated impacts (EEA 2008, Stern 2007). Emitted greenhouse gases such as CO2 persist in the atmosphere for centuries before being reabsorbed back into ocean and land based carbon sinks (Pittock 2009). Even in the unlikely event that emissions ceased tomorrow, the chemistry underlying the phenomenon is inert, meaning that centuries of climate change would remain (Solomon et al 2009). What is more likely is that rapid carbon intensive development paths being followed by developing countries, particularly China and India (Anderson and Bows 2011), coupled with a general lack of political action to reduce greenhouse gases (Hamilton 2010, Hulme 2009), heightens the challenges associated with reducing emissions levels over the short to medium term. Consequently, scientists are increasingly speculating that future climate change has the potential to be rapid and severe (Betts et al 2011). Whatever future scenario we find ourselves in, adapting to the changing climate is set to become an important policy agenda. Spatial planning has a key role to play in responding to this challenge.