Posted on 9/10/19 by Kristen Guida
The latest news from around the LCCP network. If you’d like to include your news in the next update, contact Kristen.
News and Recent Events
Climate Impacts Accelerating The World Meteorological Organization published its report in September setting out the latest science on the causes and effects of climate change. Global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees C since 1850, with .2 of that rise occurring between 2011 and 2015. Meanwhile, sea level rise increased from 2014 to 2019 to 5mm per year. Read all the detail here.
Our Planet, Our Health The Environmental Audit Committee published a report highlighting the extent to which climate change could affect the health and well-being of the UK’s population. The Planetary Health inquiry considered the effect of environmental damage and climate change on health, food security, life in cities and air quality. It concluded that without urgent action to curb GHG emissions and safeguard the environment we risk irreversible damage, with impacts on human health already apparent. Read the report and recommendations here.
Consultation on London’s Preliminary Resilience Assessment The GLA has been working on a new Resilience Strategy for London in partnership with the 100 Resilient Cities network. The work so far has focused on understanding London’s strengths and the key shocks and stresses that could affect the city. Three strands of work, focusing on People, Places, and Process, will be developed into actions in coming months. In the meantime, the Preliminary Resilience Assessment sets out context and a direction of travel for the final strategy. It identifies a set of resilience challenges and proposes themes that warrant further exploration. Stakeholders are encouraged to provide comment—use the link above—by October 15.
Greening Inland Shipping The Port of London Authority convened the inaugural Greening Inland Shipping conference during London International Shipping Week in September. Nearly 200 delegates from across Europe gathered in Docklands to discuss emerging technologies to drive down emissions from tugs, ferries, and barges working on the river.
PLA Adaptation Reporting In coming months, in accordance with the Climate Change Act the PLA will be reviewing its adaptation report and combining this with a reviewed Air Quality Strategy, which will update the existing strategy to meet the requirements under Defra’s Clean Air Strategy.
Community Engagement on Climate Change Adaptation – Evidence Review In August the Environment Agency published this review as part of the Working Together to Adapt to a Changing Climate: Flood and Coast project. The project aims to produce learning and better guidance for community engagement in situations where engagement might be challenging. It’s worth a read by practitioners, policy makers, and academics working on flood and coastal erosion risk management.
Climate Change is Not a Distant Threat In her September 2019 blog post, Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd talks about the need to step up climate change investment and action now, and sets out the context, which includes a new flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy for England, a new report by the Global Commission on Adaptation, and the students’ climate strikes.
Thames Estuary 2100 plan – 2020 Review The Environment Agency is conducting a review of the TE2100 plan. Three phases of the review will include monitoring of ten indicators of change in the estuary, an economic review of the costs and benefits of the plan, and the production of a new plan with updated recommendations. To encourage stakeholder participation and ownership of the plan, The EA has set out a governance structure including themed working groups and two steering groups for peer review and advice. For more information, see the plan pages online.
Eco:Actuary Flood Risk Model Members of Space4Climate, including King’s College London and AmbioTEK CIC, launched this project in September with a range of stakeholders from insurance, risk management, water companies, green bond developers, conservation NGOs, and land managers.
Eco:Actuary is a new, freely available flood risk model that creates on-demand flood risk, flood mitigation and damage estimate maps for current conditions or scenarios for climate, land use and land management anywhere in the world. Users can explore how changes to land use, climate and the presence of green or grey infrastructure affect flood risk. For more information, contact Mark Mulligan.
Climate Change and Culture Julie’s Bicycle has teamed up with the British Fashion Council and DHL for a new report on what the climate crisis means for the British fashion industry. There is also a new academic paper about how cultural policies can contribute to meeting the sustainable development goals – available here for free until the end of October.
Find out how 14 cities across the world are leading the way on ambitious creative climate initiatives across policy and strategy, resources and support, partnerships and innovation, and creative programmes and campaigns.
And if you’ve been in the market for a new podcast, why not check out The Colour Green podcast, which features Baroness Lola Young joining the dots between climate justice, race, power, and inequality in a series of talks with pioneering artists and activists of colour. And the Green Heritage Futures podcast is a series addressing issues of cultural heritage and climate change, looking at museums, historic sites, curation, and research on natural resources.
UKGBC Ambition for Climate Resilience and Environmental Gains in the Built Environment On November 8, the UK Green Building Council will publish an ambition statement on the topics of climate change adaptation and nature and biodiversity. The UKGBC has been consulting on its vision for a built environment that enables people and planet to thrive, including by “adapting to climate change” and “embracing and restoring nature and promoting biodiversity.” The ambition statement will be the foundation of all UKGBC activity in this area, including research, innovation, guidance, education and advocacy to business and government.
In partnership with industry, the UKGBC will then develop a roadmap setting out the challenges and required interventions for the built environment to achieve the ambition. This will provide a narrative of how the built environment can meet the ambition and the role each stakeholder can fulfil. It will be launched at the time of COP 26.
UKGBC would like to hear from organisations that may be able to provide funding for the creation of the roadmap. Please contact Alastair to discuss.
Practical Steps for Business Climate Change Adaptation the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched a new report in September entitled Business Climate Resilience – thriving through the transformation. The report provides a guide for business to build adaptive capacity to manage risks and seize opportunities from climate change. It highlights practical steps that businesses can take to enhance climate resilience and calls upon policymakers to deliver clear leadership and strong collaborations to address the climate emergency.
The Business Case for Resilience ARCADIS has published a report setting out the case for a systematic approach to building resilience in urban environments. A good summary by Resilience First is here. The full report is here. It contains case studies and approaches to ensuring resilience, considering demographic, technical, and environmental challenges and opportunities.
Two New Consultations on Building Regulations, and New Research Earlier this month the government published the first of two consultations on changes to the building regulations. The consultation on Part L (conservation of fuel and power) can be found here. This consultation covers new homes and includes two options to raise the energy efficiency standards as a stepping stone to the Future Homes Standard. It also includes proposals for changes to the ventilation standards of the Building Regulations (Part F), more stringent transitional requirements for the energy efficiency standards and a clearer role for planning authorities in setting energy efficiency standards.
A further consultation on Part F will follow in the coming months, proposing changes to the energy efficiency standards for non-domestic buildings and for building work to existing homes and non-domestic buildings; as well as on preventing overheating in buildings.
The government has also published new research on overheating and on ventilation and air quality.
Two New Adaptation Guides, for Universities The EAUC (Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Adaptation) and the Higher Education Business Continuity Network have produced two adaptation guides. One helps institutions get started with assessing the risks. The other helps them incorporate consideration of climate change into existing business continuity processes. Colleagues at AECOM supported this work.
Reminder: NIC Scoping Report and Call for Evidence The National Infrastructure Commission published its scoping study report on resilience last month. They are now calling for evidence around three major areas: systemic issues that make infrastructure vulnerable to current shocks and future changes, public acceptability, and governance. The call is open until 20 October.
Forward Look
for more information about any events, contact Kristen unless otherwise specified.
October
10: Free webinar from Julie’s Bicycle on Culturing Biodiversity: Restoring Ecosystems on Thursday 10th October from 11am – 12pm, exploring how the creative community could create spaces for nature and how organisations can help restore and protect ecosystems.
15: Resilient Housing Conference – collaboration between the Concrete Centre, Modern Masonry, and the Brick Development Association. More info here.
24: Briefing and reception: Lessons in business resilience from Salisbury and London Bridge. Find out more and register here.
November
5: Thames Estuary Partnership Annual Forum. Theme: The tidal Thames in a changing climate. Find out more and register here.
20-21: New Civil Engineer Future of Floods conference. Note our own Anusha Shah will be speaking, as will Kit England from Climate Ready Clyde. More info here.
27: Level 3 Biodiversity Net Gain Masterclass. UKGBC offers this course, which will focus on how to achieve biodiversity net gain in design and construction of new developments. Find our more and book here.