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As the northern hemisphere summer heats up, we’re reminded that climate change is here, it’s happening and it demands urgent action to adapt our homes, businesses, public services and wider landscapes.
In April, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) published its latest report on adaptation, evaluating the government’s 2023 Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3). It is a sobering read. Despite NAP3’s ambitions, the CCC found that many policies are only partially developed, are of limited effectiveness or are insufficient. For some key issues, the CCC was “unable to evaluate” progress at all.
Among the hard-to-evaluate areas are those related to extreme heat – urban heat risk, overheating in buildings and the ability of our infrastructure to cope. Measures to ensure accessible, quality healthcare during extreme weather are insufficient. In fact, most health and wellbeing policies were judged to be limited, with delivery and implementation rated even lower.
We’re already seeing the impacts. Several NHS hospitals have reported that operating theatres become unusable in high heat. While the resilience of NHS estate infrastructure is relatively measurable, other parts of the health and care system, such as care homes, are much harder to track.
There are some positive steps. The health sector has been added to the fourth round of the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP), and NHS England submitted its report earlier this year. But reports from other care settings are still missing, and ARP remains a voluntary framework.
For ARP to drive real change it needs strengthening. We need it to be mandatory; to have clearer and more consistent reporting structures; and for ARP submissions to be independently assessed.
As with so much in climate adaptation, it’s the insurance sector that often acts first – by choosing what it will and won’t cover – but businesses, including care homes, can’t exist without insurance.
That’s why an ambitious adaptation policy environment is essential, not just to protect public health, but to maintain the foundations on which our economy and wellbeing rest.
Chloë Fiddy
Senior policy and engagement lead
Climate change is one of the five key drivers of biodiversity loss, contributing to the degradation of ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems support climate action through carbon storage and nature-based solutions that help address impacts such as flooding. The two challenges are interconnected and action on one can bring benefits to the other.
Nature also underpins our economy and business operations, providing resources such as water, raw materials and fertile soil.
Understanding how your organisation both depends on and affects nature is vital for managing risks – such as resource scarcity and climate disruption – and uncovering opportunities.
A new paper from ISEP, Integrating nature into business, can help organisations tackle climate and nature issues together by building on existing climate initiatives and incorporating nature into business strategy.
The paper is relevant for organisations at all stages, whether just starting to engage with biodiversity or looking to enhance their approach. It explores:
The ISEP paper offers a practical framework and is available to download at www.bit.ly/IntegratingNature
Lesley Wilson AISEP
Policy and engagement lead for biodiversity and natural capital
ISEP continues to engage closely with policymakers as the government advances major reforms to planning policy and environmental governance.
As part of this, ISEP members and expert stakeholders joined Dame Glenys Stacey and Professor Robbie McDonald from the Office for Environmental Protection for an online roundtable, facilitated by ISEP CEO Sarah Mukherjee MBE. The discussion focused on the revision of England’s Environmental Improvement Plan and the government’s parallel planning reform agenda. For more on this, see www.bit.ly/EIP_roundtable.
In Westminster, ISEP’s impact assessment lead, Dr Rufus Howard, contributed to a high-level panel convened by the Environmental Audit Committee to explore how planning reforms and the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million homes could affect environmental protections and sustainable development.
Chloë Fiddy, ISEP’s policy lead, joined Lauren Edwards, member of parliament for Rochester and Strood (pictured above), and ISEP members at a roundtable on 4 July focused on the green skills agenda.
In partnership with the Environmental Policy Forum, we also delivered ‘Building green skills: achieving the UK’s climate goals and boosting economic growth’ during Net Zero Week in parliament on 8 July. This event was chaired by Edwards.
Asim Ali AISEP
Senior public affairs officer
Volume 4 of the Sustainable Finance Insight Journal explores how finance can help halt and reverse biodiversity loss. With more than half of global GDP dependent on nature, and biodiversity loss ranked among the top global risks, sustainable finance professionals are facing growing pressure to integrate nature into investment decision-making.
This volume highlights the $700bn (£517bn) annual biodiversity finance gap and presents practical ways in which the financial sector can respond. It examines a range of financing mechanisms, from biodiversity bonds and blended finance facilities to insurance instruments that transform conservation from a risk into an opportunity. Examples from Latin America, Africa and Europe show how these approaches are unlocking capital for nature-based solutions and supporting local communities.
Equally important are the tools and frameworks that enable investors to measure and report on their impact. New guidance on biodiversity finance metrics and nature-related disclosures is helping institutions align with global goals.
Guest-edited by Claire Cummins, from the ISEP Sustainable Finance Network Steering Group, several articles emphasise the value of combining scientific evidence with indigenous and community insights to develop finance solutions that are both effective and equitable. As regulatory and market momentum around nature accelerates, this edition is a timely resource. It shows that biodiversity finance is a strategic imperative for sustainable investment and long-term resilience.
For further details and to download the journal, visit www.bit.ly/SFIJ4
Rufus Howard FISEP
Policy and engagement lead for impact assessment
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) is set to include waste incinerators and energy-from-waste plants in 2028. The operators are currently in the preparatory phase, which includes monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions.
The UK government has announced that the UK ETS will sync with the EU equivalent. The link-up will include the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will come into effect on 1 January 2026, with a UK CBAM launching a year later.
The UK ETS extension potentially creates a powerful incentive to drive implementation of circular economy initiatives. However, the costs associated with the scheme are likely to hit waste operators, businesses and local authorities. Analysis by the Local Government Association shows that bringing waste incineration into the UK ETS is likely to cost English local authorities between £367m and £747m in the first year of full implementation, rising to up to £1.1bn by 2036 and a cumulative total of around £6.5bn
over the period.
It will be interesting to see how this issue is considered and fits in with the circular economy strategy being developed by a cross-sectoral Circular Economy Taskforce.
Agnes Chruszcz
Policy and engagement lead for circular economy and social sustainability
