Environment Q&A Surgeries

Tuesday 22 July, 11:00 - 12:00 BST

This webinar explored how UK businesses can engage with nature markets and apply BSI Flex 701- the UK’s first Overarching Principles Standard for nature investments. Participants gained practical insights into building credible, high-integrity nature investments that reduce nature-related risks, support sustainability goals, and align with evolving expectations in the shift to a nature-positive economy.

Speakers:

• George Sethia, Head of Consulting and Nature Investment Standards Lead, BSI
• Ian Dickie, Director, Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec) 
• Sarah Brownlie, Programme Director, Wilder Carbon 

Monday 3 March, 11-12pm GMT

As the first Environment Q&A Surgery of 2025, this webinar provided businesses with practical insights on navigating the Simpler Recycling regulations and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms. Attendees engaged with expert speakers to explore strategies for staying ahead of regulatory changes, including the obligations for businesses to separate core recyclable waste streams and report packaging data under the new EPR system. The session also covered the timeline for compliance, including the requirements for businesses to arrange separate recycling services by 31 March 2025 and the upcoming changes for micro-firms by 2027. Key discussions also focused on the challenges and opportunities of flexible plastic packaging recycling, with a focus on the collaborative efforts like the Flexible Plastic Funds FlexCollect programme to drive improvements in flexible plastic recycling across the UK.

Speakers:

Thursday 24 October, 10:00 to 11:00 BST

This webinar focused on COP29 in Azerbaijan as a key opportunity to strengthen global climate commitments, covering areas such as climate finance, adaptation goals, Nationally Determined Contributions, and carbon markets. It highlighted the impact of negative climate lobbying and the importance of businesses engaging with COP negotiations to align with global goals on finance and adaptation.

SPEAKER:

1. Beverley Cornaby, Director – Policy and Systems Change Collaborations, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

Thursday 5 September, 10:00 – 11:00 BST

This session brought together leading innovators from business and academia to discuss the key innovations, challenges, and implications for climate and nature resulting from the growing demand for AI in the UK. It also explored the current discourse around energy use trade-offs associated with AI data centres, the measures being taken to reduce these impacts, and why AI development must be directed towards areas where it can generate the greatest climate impact.

SPEAKERS:

• Will Cavendish, Global Digital Services Lead, Arup
• Rossella Arcucci, Associate Professor in Data Science and Machine Learning, Imperial College London
• Peter Dudfield, Head of Technology, Open Climate Fix

Thursday 13 June, 10:00 – 11:00 BST

New expectations are being placed on businesses to take a systemic view of their impacts and dependencies and fund mitigation activities beyond their value chains. This is reflected in the latest guidance from SBTi on Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM), and the evolving utility of voluntary carbon markets (VCM) to move away from compensating corporate emissions. Businesses that allocate funding towards BVCM either through the VCM, adaptation and resilience measures, or emerging climate technologies will unlock more opportunities to minimise risk and build long-term resilience.

This session provided an overview of how BVCM and high-integrity carbon markets allow businesses to show climate leadership and contribute to systemic impacts through their investments. Participants were able to ask questions about how to adopt the latest guidance, trends in corporate use of the VCM, and how BVCM investments can support their overall emissions reduction strategies.

SPEAKERS:

• Scarlett Benson, Beyond Value Chain Mitigation Lead, SBTi
• Lydia Sheldrake, Director of Policy and Partnerships, VCMI
• Guy Turner, Managing Director of Carbon Markets, MSCI
• Philip Jackson,Head of Tech Strategy and Execution,Carbonaires
• Mauricio Bermudez Neubauer, Carbon Strategy and Intelligence Global Lead, Accenture

12 March 2024

This session helped businesses understand how litigation risk is evolving and provided companies with the opportunity to ask experts about how they can align their climate commitments with existing frameworks, incoming regulations, and changing public opinion around corporate climate action to reduce their exposure to litigation risk.

Speakers

• Joana Setzer, Assistant Professor, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics 
• Shirley Magniez-Pouget, Legal Director, DLA Piper 
• Sophie Marjanac, Accountable Corporations Lead, ClientEarth

21 November, 10:00-11:00 GMT 

The UN Global Compact Network UK hosted a Q&A Surgery to provide a forum for discussion outlining various business, civil society, and academic stakeholders’ expectations for COP28. This session explored what a successful COP28 would entail, and the commitments and policy outcomes that will need to be secured at COP28 to bring us back on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Expert speakers:

• Rachel McEwen, Chief Sustainability Officer, SSE
• Tom Evans, Policy Advisor – Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics, E3G
• Eva Cairns, Head of Sustainability Insights & Climate Strategy, abrdn
• Professor Tim Lenton, Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science, University of Exeter

27 September 2023, 14:00-15:00 BST

Expert speakers:
Dr. Varsha Vijay
Technical Director
Science Based Targets Network

Juliane Greff, Plant-based Sustainability Manager
Danone

In May 2023, the Science Based Targets Network published the first release of science-based targets for nature, paving the way for more robust corporate action to tackle nature loss.

This Q&A Surgery explored how businesses can engage with the guidance to identify, measure, and begin addressing their impacts on nature. Attendees heard about the tools and resources available to help them get started on the journey of setting science-based targets for nature, focusing specifically on freshwater and land target-setting.

27 April 2023

Expert speakers:
An Hodgson
Head of Practice Consumers
Euromonitor International

Klara Kozlov
Principal Consultant

In this Q&A surgery, participants asked experts about current trends in consumer behaviour and attitudes towards environmental sustainability, and the role that businesses can play in driving greener purchasing habits. The recording can be accessed through the form adjacent.

23 February 2023

Expert speakers:
Charmian Love, Global Director of Advocacy, Natura &Co
Kiran Sehra, Biodiversity Analyst, Aviva Investors

This Q&A surgery gave attendees the opportunity to ask experts about the impacts that the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will have on their business, and how to meet investor expectations around corporate action and disclosures on nature following COP15.

The recording can be accessed through the form adjacent, and key takeaways from the session can be found here.

28 September 2022

Expert speakers:

Amir Sokolowski, Global Director, Climate Change, CDP
Laura Houët, Partner, Funds and Sustainability and Co-Head of ESG, CMS UK.

In this Q&A surgery, participants engaged in a discussion with experts on the impacts that upcoming climate legislation may have on their operations and how they can prepare for future climate-related laws and policies.

The recording can be accessed through the form adjacent, and key takeaways from the session can be found here.

10 June 2022

Expert speakers: 
Mark Gough, CEO, Capitals Coalition
Terri Wills, Urban Strategy Leader, Arup 

This session helped attendees to understand the key role which NbS can play in neutralising a business’ residual emissions and mitigating climate-related risks. Attendees had the opportunity to ask experts about the various kinds of NbS and how to choose a scheme that is best suited to their business. 

The recording can be accessed using the form above, and key takeaways from the session can be found here. 

30 March 2022

Expert Speakers:

Charlotte Challis, Principal Consultant, Anthesis Group
Steven Thompson, UK Sustainability Director, National Grid

Companies are increasingly implementing internal carbon pricing to manage climate-related risks and advance their transition to net zero. In this session, UN Global Compact Network UK members had the opportunity to ask experts about the ins and outs of setting an internal carbon price, how this may benefit their business, and the associated challenges and solutions.

The recording of the session can be accessed using the adjacent form, and key takeaways can be accessed here.

27 January 2022

Expert Speakers:

Mark Manning, Technical Specialist, Sustainable Finance and Stewardship, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Stephanie Chang, Head of ESG Integration, Schroders 

This Q&A session gave attendees the opportunity to ask experts about the business and finance-related announcements at COP26 and learn about the actions they can take to create and advance their net zero strategies and manage investor expectations.

6 May 2021

Expert Speakers:

Elise Attal, Head of Policy, UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI)
Jai Mallick, Associate, Institutional Capital, Foresight Group

In this Q&A Surgery, we aimed to support UK Network member’s understanding of the EU taxonomy by engaging in a conversation that explored:

• The basic principles and the taxonomy;
• How the taxonomy can support businesses and investors to achieve net zero;
• How businesses and investors should use the taxonomy; and more.

16 March 2021

Expert Speakers:
Bridget Beals, Partner and Co-Head of Climate Risk and Decarbonisation Strategy, KPMG UK 
Theo Bachrach, Communications Lead, Race to Resilience, UN Climate Champions Team 

In this Q&A Surgery, we provided an introduction to the climate resilience and adaptation agenda by engaging in a conversation that will explore: what climate resilience and adaptation means for the private sector; the importance and role of business in enhancing resilience and building adaptive capacity; the risks of not taking action to build resilience; and more.

27 January 2021

Expert Speakers:
Nick Brown, Sustainable Packaging Director at Coca-Cola European Partners;
Soukeyna Gueye, Research Analyst at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

In this Q&A surgery, participants engaged in a conversation with experts around: the basic principles of the circular economy; how companies can integrate these principles into their own operations and influence their entire value chain; the role of the circular economy in meeting science-based targets and other environmental targets; and more.

25 November 2020

Expert Speakers:
Monica Araya, Lead - Transport at Climate Champions COP26;
Lorna McAtear, Fleet Manager - National Grid

In this Q&A surgery, participants engaged in a conversation with experts around: the barriers to EV uptake and how to overcome them; the role of government and business to accelerate the transition to electric transport; the benefits of transitioning to electric fleets; and more.

27 October 2020

Expert Speakers:
Catherine Westoby – Senior Policy Advisor – Public Engagement and Behaviour Change on Net Zero at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy;
Liam Burlinson, Head of Business Energy Efficiency at Centrica.

For this session, we engaged in a conversation on climate action for SMEs. SMEs make up around 90% of businesses and also feature heavily in larger companies’ supply chains. Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and achieving net zero economies will require huge transformation across the private sector, and will involve SMEs to commit to and deliver carbon emissions reductions.

Discussed: the role of SMEs in delivering a net zero economy; support available for SMEs; and the specific challenges faced by SMEs in taking climate action and how to overcome these.

24 September 2020

Expert Speakers:
Jonathan Grant, Principal Advisor on Climate Change at Rio Tinto and Chair of the International Emissions Trading Association Board.
Vanessa Havard-Williams, Head of Environment & Climate Change, Linklaters.

In this first session we had a conversation on ‘Corporate Climate Action’, focusing on the challenges and practicalities of climate change for a company. Discussed: the challenges companies face in relation to taking action on climate change; changing behaviours and actions in companies towards climate change; climate regulation; practical ways in which to take meaningful action; and more.