New event to bring together senior business leaders to explore how to accelerate efforts to enhance UK climate resilience
BusinessGreen is today delighted to announced this December it will host the inaugural UK Climate Resilience Forum, bringing together senior leaders from across the green economy to explore how to bolster UK resilience in the face of escalating climate impacts and transition risks.
The event will take place on the afternoon of December 3rd at the Sustainable Ventures climate tech hub in central London and will feature a series of presentations, discussions, and case studies detailing the scale of the climate risks organisations are facing and the emerging best practices for enhancing climate resilience.
The forum will bring together around 150 senior corporate sustainability executives, policymakers, and public sector leaders, as well as risk and finance professionals, who are all working to shape a resilience agenda that is fast moving up the list of corporate and economic priorities.
"As the latest heatwave to hit the UK has further underscored, the UK remains ill-equipped for the increasingly hostile climate it faces," said BusinessGreen editor-in-chief, James Murray. "Growing numbers of businesses are recognising the need for enhanced resilience, as the complex web of climate, geopolitical, and transition risks they are facing becomes painfully apparent. But best practices are still evolving and there is an urgent need to better co-ordinate the cross-sector response that is required to build genuine climate resilience.
"The UK Climate Resilience Forum aims to provide a unique opportunity for different industries and sectors to share their experiences and jointly discuss the policies, investments, technologies, and practices that will be essential if the UK economy is to successfully adapt to an era of escalating climate impacts."
The event is to be delivered with support from its founding partners, including Santander and Equans.
Fiona Hyde, head of sustainability at Santander UK, said climate resilience was fast becoming "a test of economic security, competitiveness and customer outcomes".
"Households, businesses and communities are already dealing with more volatile weather, higher costs and disruption to the infrastructure and supply chains they rely on," she said. "Adaptation must sit alongside decarbonisation as part of responsible planning for a changing climate. For finance, the task is practical: helping translate climate risk into better decisions, targeted investment, stronger partnerships and more resilient communities. Santander UK can add most value by convening evidence-led conversations and supporting practical action that helps resilience move from strategic concern to delivery."
Josie Narramore, principal climate adaptation consultant at Equans UK & Ireland, said there needed to be a wider recognition of how "climate resilience is no longer a future consideration - it's a practical challenge for organisations today".
"As the impacts of a changing climate place greater pressure on buildings, infrastructure and essential services, resilience is becoming central to business continuity, asset performance, energy security and the wellbeing of people who use these spaces," she said. "Through our work across energy, technical facilities management, regeneration and digital services, Equans supports customers to understand climate-related risks and make practical decisions that strengthen resilience over the long term."
She added that the new Climate Resilience Forum would provide "an important platform to bring together different perspectives and focus on the action needed to create places that are better prepared for the future".
The Climate Resilience Forum is an invite-only event, but you can now register your interest in attending or supporting the event and access an illustrative agenda for the forum.
Further details on the agenda and speaker line-up, as well as a series of Climate Resilience Forum webinars that will take place throughout the autumn, will be announced in September.
