The CCC has made the challenge plain: the UK must adapt faster or face mounting threats to people, places and the economy. UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap shows how that shift can be made in practice, with joined-up action across the built environment and government. The challenge is serious, but it is not beyond us if we choose to act now.”

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest assessment of climate risk is a clear and urgent signal that the UK must accelerate adaptation now. Climate impacts are already being felt across the country, and the report makes plain that higher temperatures, flooding, drought and cascading infrastructure risks will intensify unless government, business and communities act at pace. UKGBC strongly welcomes the CCC’s focus on practical, evidence-based action, and the emphasis on clear targets, delivery plans and accountability.

This message echoes what UKGBC has been saying through our Climate Resilience Roadmap, which sets out how the built environment can move from awareness of climate risk to assessment, prioritisation and implementation. We have long argued that resilience cannot sit in isolation: it must be integrated with decarbonisation, nature, health and wellbeing, and long-term value. The CCC’s report reinforces that approach, particularly in relation to homes, infrastructure, public services, and the need to protect the most vulnerable.

On the built environment, the CCC highlights the need for new buildings to be fit for a changing climate, for existing homes and assets to be retrofitted and upgraded, for better preparedness, and for cooling and water resilience to be addressed at scale. UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap supports exactly this shift: from broad ambition to the practical, site, portfolio, and community-level decisions needed to reduce risk and deliver more resilient places.

For industry, the message is straightforward. Climate resilience needs to become a core part of investment, design, planning, procurement and asset management. That means acting now on heat risk, flood risk, water scarcity and infrastructure interdependencies, and using the tools, standards and methods already available to make adaptation routine rather than exceptional.

For government, the priority is equally clear. The CCC sets out the case for stronger objectives, measurable targets, delivery plans and monitoring, backed by regulation, standards and investment. UKGBC support this direction and would add that policy must enable joined-up action across departments and sectors, so that resilience measures are not delivered piecemeal. Planning policy, building standards, infrastructure development, and funding programmes all need to reflect the climate risks we already face, and the more severe future risks that are now unavoidable.

There is a strong case for greater emphasis on nature-based solutions, passive cooling, flood risk management and long-term asset maintenance, all of which can deliver resilience and wider co-benefits. The CCC’s analysis shows that many adaptation actions are cost-effective today, and that delay only increases cost and harm. UKGBC believes this should galvanise a shift in both mindset and delivery: adaptation is no longer a future issue, but an immediate investment in safety, wellbeing and economic stability.

The CCC’s report and UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap both make the same case: adaptation needs to move from principle to practical delivery. The UK needs clear leadership, practical delivery and sustained investment to create a well-adapted built environment. The opportunity here is to reduce harm, protect lives and livelihoods, and create places that resilient, inclusive and fit for the climate reality we are already entering.

UK Climate Resilience Roadmap

This Roadmap sets out a vision for a climate resilient built environment, sharing clear recommendations for the industry and policy, and next steps needed to increase the climate resilience of our built environment.

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Policy & Advocacy

Since 2007, we have been bringing together some of the most influential leaders in politics, business, local authorities, civil service and NGOs to accelerate action for a green built environment.

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In this webinar, we’ll walk you through the proposal and the key questions we’re seeking feedback on. This is your chance to help shape the future of the industry.

Who Should Attend?

This event is designed for anyone who may be interested in responding to the Regenerative Places Framework consultation, particularly those involved in housing development or retrofit. It is an opportunity for all built environment stakeholders to provide feedback. We encourage anyone with an interest in regenerative design in the built environment to join this webinar and respond to the consultation, from experienced professionals to those with a general interest.

WITH THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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Access the Report by filling out the form below:

This report is intended as a signpost for industry to key developments and reflect what Ģ��ֱ�� hearing from industry and in research by others.�� While this is a summary of some of the notable trends, solutions and examples of which UKGBC has become aware, there are likely to be others that are not mentioned. UKGBC does not formally endorse any of the individual solutions listed.����

Solutions and Innovation

At UKGBC we take a collaborative approach to identify sustainability challenges across the built environment and help source and implement the solutions to them.

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Drought and Climate Change in the UK

Historically, drought has not been an uncommon occurrence in the UK’s weather system, happening every 5 to 10 years with memorable events such as the drought of 1976 or more recently in 2022. However, climate change is making droughts not only more common, but longer and more severe. have already entered drought status this year, with three more regions currently in prolonged dry status. By 2050, the predicts there will be 10-15% less water available due to a reduction in precipitation throughout the year. In the South East of England alone it is expected that an extra will need to be found to meet demand. This is partially due to increased population pressure – but also because of a lack of water security due to more frequent droughts.

What impact can drought have on our buildings and cities?

Impacts on buildings

In areas with clay soil, prolonged drought can cause the soil to dry out and this can lead to soil shrinkage. When the soil shrinks, this can lead to subsidence. This is an expensive problem for existing homes and businesses, as well as significant utility infrastructure. Drought can also make other climate change impacts worse. For example, it can increase the risk of wildfire, which in turn can lead to significant damage and even destruction of homes. And on the other hand, drought can make the earth less able to soak up rain water and make surface flooding more likely.

Drought can also make other climate change impacts worse.”

Impacts on resiliency infrastructure

In our journey to make our cities and communities more resilient to our changing climate, we’re relying a lot on nature-based solutions such as street trees, rain gardens and green space. However, if not properly maintained when drought strikes this vegetation can die back and lose its effectiveness at cooling our streets or soaking up excess surface water. This in turn makes our ability to withstand other climate events – such as heat waves or intense rainfall – much weaker. In addition, if urban plants are allowed to die back in droughts we also lose their work absorbing CO2 through photosynthesis, meaning we’re reducing our ability to take carbon out of the atmosphere. And of course, as less carbon is removed from the atmosphere, issues such as drought will just get worse.

Impacts on the community

It’s not just our physical environment that is impacted by drought, but also our communities. Drought can lead to hosepipe bans which can impact individuals ability to look after themselves and their property. On a much more severe level, water shortages or rationing in the worst instance can lead to issues of hygiene and health – especially in hot weather. Outside of an individual home, drought can lead to negative impacts on our agriculture, resulting in lower food output and higher prices, or even some food shortages. All of these impacts are most likely to affect more vulnerable households who do not have the ability to pay for or otherwise access the resources they need.

What should the built environment do to prepare for drought?

Implement grey water recycling or rain water harvesting

Whether on a building or system-wide level, our built environment should implement grey water recycling. Although not always feasible, this can prevent water that is clean enough to reuse from being wasted. This can look like water from handwashing or washing machines being used for toilet flushing, cooling systems or irrigation. On the other hand, individual buildings should also look into opportunities for rain water harvesting – whether that’s with a simple water butt for watering a garden, or a more complex system that uses rainwater to flush toilets.��

Lower the water need both on and off site

It’s crucial that built environment professionals put the circular economy front and centre.”

A simple way for building owners to increase the resiliency of the built environment to drought is by using water efficient fixtures and fittings on site. This can be anything from reduced flow showers and taps to washing machines and dishwashers that use less water per load. When thinking about off-site water, it’s crucial that built environment professionals put the circular economy front and centre. Many materials, like aluminium and iron, use lots of freshwater in either their mining or manufacture. Reducing the amount of new materials a development uses, will inevitable reduce the amount of water needed from the system overall.

Landscape for drier weather

As we face drier summers, it’s also important for the built environment to consider reimagining landscaping so that it is more resilient and needs less irrigation. This can often look like removing grass lawns in favour of drought resilient plants, or adopting common gardening practices like increasing mulch or other ground cover plants to reduce water loss from the soil. The less maintenance green spaces need in our built environment, the more likely they are to be successful and continue providing social and environmental benefits for the community.

What is UKGBC doing about drought in the UK?

UKGBC has long been concerned about the impact of drought on our built environment, and focussed on drought as one of five key climate impacts in our recent UK Climate Resilience Roadmap. We worked with a range of UK experts to create key recommendations as to how we can make our built environment more resilient to drought and explored how connected droughts are to other climate impacts in a complicated climate system. We continue to advocate for policies that promote resiliency in the face of drought and provide a range of resources to generally help built environment professionals create the resilient towns and cities we need.

 

UK Climate Resilience Roadmap

This Roadmap sets out a vision for a climate resilient built environment, sharing clear recommendations for the industry and policy, and next steps needed to increase the climate resilience of our built environment.

View more

Provides insights into key archetype locations in the UK and their current and future vulnerability to climate hazards.

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The UK Climate Resilience Roadmap details, for the first time, how the UK’s built environment, including homes, schools, offices, hospitals parks and infrastructure, are increasingly vulnerable to five climate hazards – overheating, flooding, drought, wildfires and storms.

As parts of the UK face the prospect of a second heatwave in barely a week, modelling for the roadmap shows schools in London and the South East will likely face 10 weeks of extreme overheating risk in what is regarded as a ‘low future warming scenario’ of 2°C – an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action, predicts we are on course for a 2.7°C increase by the year 2100.

The roadmap identifies 13 areas across the country most vulnerable to extreme weather hazards, with the cathedral city of Peterborough, and the Welsh village of Fairbourne, to become ‘likely uninhabitable’ by the turn of the century because of flooding. Places susceptible to storm, wildfires and drought are also highlighted.

Developed by the Ģ��ֱ��, and partners including Lloyds Banking Group, Mace, Arup, Zurich, Buro Happold and Hoare Lea and others (see notes) over two years, the roadmap also shows how buildings might be adapted to face a warmer and wetter future and calls on the government to treat climate resilience as a national emergency.

The report says:

· The 13 areas of the UK most vulnerable to storms, floods, overheating, wildfires and drought are in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Peterborough, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Gillingham, Glasgow, Lancaster, Scunthorpe and Weston-Super-Mare.

· Six million homes (houses and flats) in London and the South East will face two weeks in excess of 28°C a year in the low warming scenario, while healthcare buildings (doctors surgeries, healthcare centres and hospitals) are projected to face two weeks per year. Care homes in London and the South East will face temperatures in excess of 28°C for four weeks per year.

· Flooding will make Peterborough and Fairbourne ‘likely uninhabitable’ by the end of the century.

Delaying action is costing lives and livelihoods… We are living through a changing climate, we must act now.”

As well as key messages for industry, the report contains policy recommendations for government, including calls to create an Office for Resilience in the Cabinet Office and restoring the role of Minister for Resilience, protecting all communities with trees, parks and ponds and creating a new generation of green professionals. The report sets out how built environment professionals can adopt a four-stage framework for embedding climate resilience into built environment decision-making across organisations and project teams.

Simon McWhirter, chief executive at the Ģ��ֱ��, said:

The UK Climate Resilience Roadmap starkly illustrates the threats of a changing climate, not in the future, but right here, right now. The UK is not ready for the extreme weather events of today, even less so for the hotter, wetter and wilder climate that is already racing down the track at us.

Our homes, schools, hospitals, parks and offices are on the front line, protecting and nurturing us. They’re the essential ingredients that keep us warm, safe and comfortable, the very fabric of our communities and society, and they are in danger. We need a fundamental rethink on this if we are to help protect people and our way of life.

While we need to keep doing everything we can to reduce the climate impacts ahead of us, in parallel we need to be preparing for a much hotter and more unpredictable world, now. With all the climate hazards that’ll bring, from more flash floods to rampant overheating in our buildings. It would be irresponsible of us not to do that. Policies and actions pledged to date by governments across the world mean we are projected to hit 2.7 per cent of warming. So acting now is the only responsible choice; inaction wildly increases the risk, both morally and financially.

Delaying action is costing lives and livelihoods. It is why we need climate resilience to be treated as a national emergency and why we are calling on the Government to create an Office for Resilience in the Cabinet Office, while restoring the role of Minister for Resilience. We are living through a changing climate, we must act now.”

Learn more about how to get involved in our climate resilience work here.

UK Climate Resilience Roadmap

This Roadmap sets out a vision for a climate resilient built environment, sharing clear recommendations for the industry and policy, and next steps needed to increase the climate resilience of our built environment.

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GIS Vulnerability Web Map

This GIS web map provides insights into key archetype locations in the UK and their current and future vulnerability to climate hazards.

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Urban Heat Island Web Map

This tool uses satellite imagery to assess temperature variations within urban environments.

Explore the map

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As climate change impacts continue to occur, the built environment must prepare for hazards such as heatwaves, floods, and storms whilst cutting carbon emissions. Currently, of UK homes are already at risk of overheating and in the summer of 2022, when temperatures in the UK surpassed 40°C for the first time, England and Wales recorded . This highlights the urgency of addressing overheating in our built environment, which is only going to become more critical due to climate change.����

Many innovation solutions and approaches are being developed to address this challenge, whether that be digital tools, physical products or technologies or approaches. This webinar will shine a spotlight onto some of these solutions, whilst providing attendees with the opportunities to ask questions and spark a discussion.����

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals, particularly building owners and occupiers, and project teams including developers, consultants, designers, architects and engineers, who are looking to understand the tools available to support on implementing climate resilience into the built environment. You do not need to be an expert in this area to attend.   

UKGBC cancellation and refund policy

Please see this page for more details on our cancellations and refunds.

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

UK Climate Resilience Roadmap Partners

With thanks to the following organisations for making this work possible:

The post Innovation Showcase – Overheating appeared first on UKGBC.

A flood resilient city is one that is prepared to manage both normal and unusual flooding events – whether that’s from excess rainfall or storm surge. Ideally, its infrastructure, buildings, and day-to-day activities should be able to navigate these impacts with limited negative effect on its community members. These cities will have resilience to flood events as a key priority when thinking of both urban planning and building policy, to ensure that all new developments are in keeping with the flood resilient ethos.  

When considered in its wider context, a flood resilient city is a key idea for anyone wanting to understand how the UK can adapt and become more resilient to our changing and increasingly volatile climate.  

Learn more about Climate Change Adaptation here.  

Is Flood Risk increasing in UK towns and cities?  

Yes, the Environment Agency predicts that in the UK will be at risk of flooding by 2050. As the climate warms, clouds can hold more moisture and rain events will get more intense. the Met Office predicts that with every °C of warming, regional . With more intense storms, surface water flooding risk increases. Surface water flooding is when the amount of rain exceeds the capacity of drains and sewers – and is the UK’s highest area of flood risk with London being the hardest hit. The UK is also at an increasing risk of river and sea flooding – which occurs when rivers break their banks or storm surges cause coastal flooding. This type of flooding can be more dangerous, as flood waters tend to be deeper, and the East Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber, and south-east England are most at risk.  

As flooding likelihood and severity rises, it becomes increasingly important for towns and cities across the country to prioritise managing flood risk  

How can we build a Flood Proof City?  

Reduce Impermeable Surfaces 

One of the biggest contributors to surface flooding in our cities is urbanisation, and all of the concrete, asphalt and paving in our infrastructure and buildings. These surfaces, unlike the bare earth, don’t absorb water but instead repel it. This means that water cannot easily drain away, and all rain that does fall must enter the sewage system – which can lead to the drains getting easily overwhelmed and flooding occurring.  

To fix this problem, a flood resilient city should invest in permeable paving solutions, that keep pavements navigable whilst also allowing rain to drain through to the groundwater. They can come in a variety of styles, from porous asphalt to higher-tech block paving or traditional grass pavers.  

Bring Nature into Cities 

Much like permeable paving, bringing nature into cities reduces the amount of surface run off, and increases the water that can be absorbed by the earth. This can be as simple as having a grass area instead of paving, or planting more street trees. However, technologies have also been developed with the relationship between urban nature and flood resilience at their core  

The most well-known examples are Sustainable Drainage Systems (or SuDS), which usually centre around rain gardens, ponds and wetland areas that mimic natural water management systems. They aim to hold the water in place, so that it can drain away slowly and reduce not only surface water, but also pressure on drainage systems and the groundwater. In early 2023, these became manadatory for new developments in the UK, and are being introduced in cities across the country. their implementation helps manage flood waters and can filter contaminants from run off, whilst also creating opportunities to bring native plants back into our communities.  

Another option, particularly useful in highly developed areas, are green roofs. Usually made up of native plants, and installed on flat or slightly sloping eaves, green roofs work similarly to SuDs, slowing down rainwater, and reducing the pressure on drainage systems. In addition to improving flood resilience, green roofs offer a number of benefits such as insulating the building, boosting air quality and introducing more biodiversity into built up areas.  

Learn more about Nature Based Solutions and how they can improve our cities here. 

Make smart changes to buildings  

If a building is in a flood risk zone, it should be prepared for flooding impacts. This can look drastic, such as raising a home onto stilts or adapting a building’s layout, so the least vulnerable uses are on the ground floor (for example, car parking). However, this can also be much less intrusive. For example, homeowners can install flood proof gates that block or slow the flow of water should there be a mild flooding event.  

Explore solutions that can help us manage flood risk here. 

Embrace more resilient rivers and coastlines  

To specifically combat river or sea flooding, we need to rethink what the nation’s rivers and coastlines look like. Historically in the UK we have a very managed environment, with rivers having little space to ebb and flow, or flood, like they naturally are designed to. Sometimes, management of rivers or the sea is needed – for example through a dense urban centre or at a port. However, engineered solutions such as sea walls and dams do not easily adapt to our changing climate, and, for example, what that might mean for the maximum height of a stream. This can lead to increased flooding in our communities as floodwaters have nowhere else to go.  

Therefore, to complement these ‘hard’ solutions, we should invest in natural solutions outside of our cities. This can look like restoring marshlands on our coast to reduce the impact of rising seas, or allowing the ‘rewiggiling’ of our rivers upstream to slow the flow of water run off – . Projects like this are often outside of the scope of individual towns, but it’s important to remember that improving the flood resilience of our cities, will inevitably ask us to improve the flood resilience of our entire environment.  

What is UKGBC doing about this issue? 

UKGBC has been working on climate change adaptation, and therefore flood management in our cities, for many years. Crucially, we are currently adapting a Climate Resilience Roadmap that will be a collaborative effort between some of the built environment’s most influential, trusted, and experienced players using cutting-edge insights at the forefront of global industry. This Roadmap will offer a clear pathway, and easy to understand metrics, that allow for the industry players and policymakers to shape the flood resilient cities of the future. 

Learn more about the Climate Resilience Roadmap here.  

Climate Change Adaptation

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

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The cafe’s

As in the previous series of Race to Zero focussed Collaboration Cafes, this series is inspired by the World Café Method.  Developed 30 years ago, this method enables us to bring different subsectors of the built environment together, to talk about the difficulties that are hard to share openly and the successes that we often ignore. The method supports insightful, collaborative and supportive knowledge sharing. Just like when we meet friends at a café. 

We start with fun, tension-relieving ice breaking and matching people for cross pollination of ideas and organised networking. We ask them to write insights from the roundtables in post it notes, organise those in harvest walls for live mapping patterns and ask them to share the most profound insights gained from the events, while gently approaching the elephant in the room.��

Voices of Knowledge����

at the end of sessions, a common thought openly shared was “I realise I know more than I thought I did! What a relief”

The mix of voices at the cafes covered a wide range of subsectors in the built environment, from academic, to local authorities, sustainability experts to constructors, product manufacturers to architects and designers and multi-disciplinary consultants, to policy and industry-focused NGOs. ��

To understand our group, we sense checked how much the organisations attending knew about climate resilience. We asked people in the room to say if “they had no knowledge or heard of it”, “they had knowledge and taking action”, or “if they considered themselves as a guru on climate resilience”. Members said the level of knowledge they had was predominantly at the middle point at all five cafes – London, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. However, at the end of sessions, when we make a main harvest of insights, a common thought openly shared was “I realise I know more than I thought I did! What a relief”…����

Insights from the cafe’s

What is climate resilience in the built environment for industry organisations

An image is better than a thousand words, here some pictures of the answer we’ve got:��

Did you notice the “oops”?…It may sound funny, but it’s also a very clear image: what falls out of climate resilience will ultimately mean that there is something to regret.��

The risks of inaction 

It is of course clear that action to implement climate resilience may not be as feasible, as fast or as a high priority as needed right now. Nevertheless, we have to make it priority.��

There is a lot going on right now, there is a sense of rush and workloads heavier than what we can easily handle. The world, humanity and ecosystems are experiencing deep crises. It is of course clear that action to implement climate resilience may not be as feasible, as fast or as a high priority as needed right now. Nevertheless, we have to make it priority.��

To make the point, we asked participants what inaction would mean for their organisation if it fails to implement resilience. We took those hundred insights and found some clear themes. The categories for the type of perceived risks were aligned to known frameworks (, ), as well as new categories we’ve created (e.g. societal & environmental-related risk), following the values and guidelines we are looking at our Climate Resilience Roadmap project. The table below lists all the perspectives of perceived risks.�� Are there any there that surprise you?

There are, of course, some differences found between the different locations where we hosted cafes.

There are, of course, some differences found between the different locations where we hosted cafes. While the findings depend on who attended these events and what the background and individual knowledge is of each attendee, the “cross pollination” effect from the method of the event give us an option to look at the results from a location perspective. Also, as other research has found, local culture can have a leading impact on how individuals approach sustainability (ref, and ).��

Have a look in the interactive visualisation below to see what each city, as well as the average, said about what the major perceived risks for them are.

If there was no limit to resources, knowledge or capacity, what would you ask to make climate resilience possible for the built environment? What would you say?

Needs from the Industry 

If there was no limit to resources, knowledge or capacity, what would you ask to make climate resilience possible for the built environment? What would you say?����

That wasn’t quite the question we posed, but we did ask what their organisation needed to achieve climate resilience in the built environment. In a similar method to how I described we used for the risks analysis, we looked at the answers to this question. These were the categories found in the table below.��

To me, conceptual and behavioural needs are as important as the practical and technical aspects of needs and therefore, capacity to act. It was particularly interesting to note the difference in what members said was most needed. See the visualisation below for their perspectives:

To me, conceptual and behavioural needs are as important as the practical and technical aspects of needs

There seem to be some distinctive needs for the industry. Do you agree?��
What I can say right now is that we are working hard at engaging policy makers to support climate resilience in the built environment, we continue to engage and train leaders and the wider community to empower individuals to feel knowledgeable and take bold action, and we are definitely working hard to provide guidance, metrics, while encouraging stakeholder alignment and systemic change with the Climate Resilience Roadmap Project.

Action: where are industry organisations?

What is the key action your organisation could take to implement climate resilience in the built environment? What would be your answer? 

We worked with the insights collected, and even though this is a very personal perspective, which will vary depending on multiple factors, this is what the overall members said would be their next step:

While there are several caveats to these results, this image is confirming that our members are at different levels of action and are indeed aware. It also shows that industry organisations are adopting a systemic view, embracing collaboration and knowledge sharing, which are crucial for the industry’s collective and convergent climate resilience action.��

Hearts and minds for action

In the mind, love is a concept. In the heart, love is an action.”��

John-Roger, DSS��

I’m feeling encouraged. Facilitating these events, witnessing the industry’s passion, and analysing the data myself have reassured me that we’re on the right path. It’s clear that, collectively, we have what it takes to keep moving forward.��

The main takeaways, similar to our previous series, are that we often feel shy to acknowledge our knowledge or intuition, hindering our progress on critical issues like climate change. Everyone is at a different stage—individuals and organisations alike. But as a collective, we’re in the right place and ready. Besides, isn’t passion one of the most basic yet powerful tools for success?  

Lastly, it’s great to come back to think about the reasons we have to continue using the café method for these events. It’s because real action happens when the mind (knowledge) and the heart (feelings) come together. And that’s what we’re all here for.��

Let’s get to action.��

Want to learn more about Climate Resilience with UKGBC? You can catch up with the latest on our Climate Resilience Roadmap here or join us for a short course on Climate Resilience here.

Climate Change Adaptation

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

UK Climate Resilience Roadmap

This Roadmap sets out a vision for a climate resilient built environment, sharing clear recommendations for the industry and policy, and next steps needed to increase the climate resilience of our built environment.

View more

The post Unveiling the Climate Risks: Voices from UK’s Built Environment�� appeared first on UKGBC.

The Resilience, Resource Use & Nature programme works to embolden industry action on the climate and nature crises and drive our industry to adapt to climate change impacts and mitigate against biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse. Taking into consideration target setting and reporting initiatives such as the TNFD and working closely with relevant government departments on key policies and recommendations there are two key areas of the programme:

Climate Resilience and Adaptation : Increasing the built environment’s resilience to physical climate hazards, expanding climate adaptation across our buildings, infrastructure and environments

Nature and Resource Use: Working towards a nature-positive built environment, embracing responsible resource use, sustainable procurement and creating green and healthy environments. By adopting circular economy principles across the industry, we can mitigate and reverse the harmful impacts the built environment has on nature from habitat loss due to extraction and processing of materials, to biodiversity loss in our town towns and cities.

Enquire here

Macarena Cárdenas Resilience and Nature Senior Advisor

Email Macarena

Nature

Nature is in crisis.�� The built environment has a critical role to play in protecting and restoring nature and moving to a regenerative model of development.

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Climate Change Adaptation

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

The post Resilience, Resource Use and Nature Programme appeared first on UKGBC.

Louise Hutchins, UKGBC Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said:

“Extreme heat, flooding and drought hitting Europe right now leaves little to the imagination about what climate catastrophe will look like, and makes clear that the UK’s homes and buildings just aren’t designed for this new normal.

“While the third National Adaptation Programme is an important step forward and sets out some welcome new initiatives including mandatory water efficiency labelling, it needed be an urgent and ambitions plan to adapt to increasingly severe, frequent, and extreme weather like last year’s heatwaves which took nearly in the UK. That nationwide approach to adapt our homes and workplaces is largely missing. We need a national effort to install measures like shutters, insulation, reflective paint, and water-efficient fixtures and fittings in our homes and buildings and shady trees and green spaces in our neighbourhoods.

“The Adaptation Programme points to the importance its forthcoming planning National Planning Policy Framework reforms for some of the answers. But the Government has an open goal in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, currently in its final stages in Parliament, to accept UKGBC-backed amendments that would align the planning system with our climate change and nature restoration goals, and put an end to a range of measures that make no sense given the climate emergency, such as new homes being built on flood-planes without proper protection.

“Over the next few months, UKGBC will be collaborating across the industry and with the government to build on this Programme and accelerate our pathway to greater climate resilience.”

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