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Signe Norberg has joined ISEP as its new director of policy and public affairs to oversee its programme of work to influence policymakers, politicians and decision-makers.
Before joining ISEP, Norberg was head of external affairs at the Aldersgate Group, where she was also interim executive director. While there, she led the organisation’s public affairs and communications functions to make the case for ambitious climate and environmental action.
Norberg brings experience from both the public and private sectors, having worked at UK local authority Southwark Council and global communications consultancy Weber Shandwick, driving public affairs work across areas including the environment, public health, housing, and food and drink.
Outside of these roles, she is a board member of Broadway Initiative and has been an adviser to Unchecked UK.
Circular Economy Policy for Green Growth, published by ISEP’s Circular
Economy Network, sets out our recommendations to transform the UK’s economy through a cohesive application of circular economy principles.
As global competition and resource scarcity intensifies, this paper offers a strategic roadmap for sustainable growth, supply-chain resilience, opportunities for UK workers, and progress towards environmental protection and net zero.
Key recommendations are grouped under five interconnected pillars:
1) Economic and financial reform to align taxation, procurement and trade with circularity
2) Strategy and regulation through sectoral roadmaps, resource productivity targets and product standards
3) Investment in innovation to scale circular business models
4) Skills and jobs via a national circular skills plan for workers at all career stages and skill levels and in all locations
5) Infrastructure to recover strategically important materials. Aimed at policymakers and industry leaders, the paper provides guidance for embedding circularity in economic planning and delivery.
The message is clear: the circular economy is not just an environmental imperative – it’s a strategic economic opportunity, and the moment for
coordinated action is now. Go to www.bit.ly/Green-Growth-Policy for further information.
A stark divide is emerging in how countries are planning for the climate
transition. With fewer than 40% of nations submitting updated nationally determined contributions, analysis from ISEP reveals major differences in how many are approaching the skills needed for a low-carbon future.
ISEP’s latest report, Climate Skills to Survive or Thrive, finds that climate-vulnerable countries are prioritising education and training for adaptation, resilience and basic survival as climate impacts intensify. Wealthier nations, in contrast, are developing green skills to drive innovation, industrial competitiveness and economic growth.
Both approaches are essential, but global inequalities may widen if skills for climate resilience are not supported alongside skills for green growth. Countries already facing the greatest threats may be left without the skilled workforces needed to protect communities, economies and ecosystems.
The report calls for education and skills development to be embedded as core pillars of climate policy. It also urges high-income nations to take a more collaborative approach to global capacity building. Visit www.bit.ly/ClimateSkills for details.
A new paper from the ISEP Biodiversity and Natural Capital Network argues that natural capital – comprising ecosystems, biodiversity and nature-based assets – should be formally recognised as critical infrastructure.
It presents evidence that natural capital underpins the UK economy,
supports essential services and mitigates systemic risks, yet remains undervalued and underfunded in national policy and investment frameworks.
Natural capital contributes £1.8trn a year to the UK economy (72% of GDP), but continued degradation could cause a 6%-12% GDP loss by the 2030s.
Nature-based solutions generate up to £3 in social value for every £1 invested, create jobs and enhance resilience. The paper identifies a strategic policy gap and recommends: redefining infrastructure to include natural capital, raising its status in planning and investment; establishing a Strategic Nature Network as an Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project; embedding the network in national policy statements and spatial strategies to deliver consistent environmental net gain; elevating the Environmental Improvement Plan as a core economic strategy and requiring nature-related financial disclosures across critical sectors; creating a natural infrastructure investment fund to drive blended finance; and reforming asset management by integrating natural capital into guidance, training and decisions.
At ISEP and the Broadway Initiative’s annual reception in London, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, delivered an inspiring keynote, calling clean energy “the economic opportunity of the 21st century” and urging sustainability professionals to act as “narrators of hope” in shaping the green transition.
Addressing more than 100 representatives from business, government, finance and civil society, Miliband stressed that the transition must be “fair for families today, and fair for families in the future”. He praised the “incredible diversity” of the climate movement, describing it as “an extraordinary coalition”.
The event also launched the Net Zero Council’s Sector Transition Plan guidance, designed to help industries in co-developing decarbonisation roadmaps and to identify investment needs.
Sarah Mukherjee MBE, ISEP CEO, said that the plans “will help ensure the UK is taking a coordinated, whole economy approach to achieving net zero,” adding: “Our ambition should be to weave green competences throughout the workforce and make all jobs greener – in the way digital skills have spread across entire organisations.”
Emma Pinchbeck, CEO of the Climate Change Committee, and Rain Newton Smith, CEO of the Confederation of British Industry, reinforced the message, underlining that clean energy is “the greatest job creation opportunity in a generation”.
