Presentation delivered by Dr Molly Anderson, Climate Change Science Manager, Environment Agency, at Communicate, 3rd November 2011, as part of the Living with Environmental CHange session Communicate is hosted by the Bristol Natural History Consortium www.communicatenow.org
2. An agenda coming of age “ Climate change is the craziest experiment mankind has ever conducted [and] the human race must live with the problem as best it can.” The Economist “ Mitigate for two degrees; adapt for four” Bob Watson, Defra Chief Scientist .
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5. Learning pathway Increasing commitment to adaptation Statistics - Defra awareness research (2010) 67% of large businesses have ‘started to think about the issues’ Four in ten organisations have been affected by extreme weather 79% of organisations concerned or very concerned about climate change 67% of large businesses have ‘started to think about the issues’ Four in ten organisations have been affected by extreme weather 79% of organisations concerned or very concerned about climate change
6. Roles of third sector? Increasing commitment to adaptation Statistics - Defra awareness research (2010) Advocacy Awareness raising Leadership Sharing practice
Statutory guidance provided by Defra, which specifies our core work, states that we should……. help to reduce emissions UK ETS - We are the main competent authority in the UK for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. We administer the scheme in England and Wales, which involves everything from writing permits to compliance monitoring. PPC - We will also use the Integrated Pollution and Prevention Control Directive (IPPC), to ensure companies use energy efficiently. And, we will seek to assess the scope for reducing non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases using IPPC measures and promote waste and land/soil management practices that reduce methane emissions and nitrous oxide emissions. Renewable Energy - We will promote renewable energy technologies onshore and offshore and prepare to handle the regulatory impact of emerging technologies (such as hydrogen, carbon capture and storage.) Regionally, we will continue to support initiatives to generate renewable energy and promote energy efficiency across industry and within households. help to limit the impacts of climate change Flood Risk & Water Resource management will both becoming increasingly difficult and pose an increasing threat to our quality of life as climate change takes hold. We therefore have a significant part to play throughout England & Wales to ensure that these potential impacts are reduced or eliminated where possible. and continue to protect the environment in spite of climate change In a changing climate everything we do as an organisation will be affected by climate change. One of our jobs is to ensure that we are ready for those impacts and to ensure that we can continue to protect the environment. We must therefore ‘climate proof’ all our plans and policies throughout the organisation. The Environment Agency has a significant role to play in both limiting and adapting to climate change
Need to help target groups through the phases Up to now, a lot of focus on awareness raising and scoping studies Increasing focus on specific impacts and risk – e.g. CCRA – but even that not specific enough. We will hep key sectors move from stage 3 to stage 4.
Need to help target groups through the phases Up to now, a lot of focus on awareness raising and scoping studies Increasing focus on specific impacts and risk – e.g. CCRA – but even that not specific enough. We will hep key sectors move from stage 3 to stage 4.
We have also played a major role in the Regional Climate Change Partnerships – now just the Climate Change Partnerships! Richard Creswell, our SW Regional Director, chairs ClimateUK. We are also actively engage locally with local authorities .