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 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

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.

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.

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.