Why am I starting this blog with a picture of a poo?
It’s because Im concerned about the future of the rabbit population that live close to my house. In the last 6 months I’ve moved house. I had to make the choice to move house to down-size, reduce a commute and release some equity from our old house. The decision was pretty emotional to make, to relocate, and the process was stressful. So this makes me worried, why?
Well there are some open fields close to my new house where I walk my dogs. Each morning, if Im lucky, I’ll see rabbits running around the fields and into the hedgerows. If I don’t see them I know they’re there because of the little ‘presents’ they’ve left dotted around the field (see picture above 🤣). But little do they know but they too will shortly need to move house. Planning permission has been granted for the development of the green fields to build some housing. This makes me feel so sad because, regardless of the protections put into the planning permission, there will come a day when the diggers roll in and the rabbits will be turfed out. No notice, or warning to them and they will have to move on and find a new home. I can only imagine the stress that will cause them and the number of them (and other animals, plants, fungi) who will be lost in the move and simply will not make it to a new home.
In very local terms, this has got me to thinking more and more about biodiversity, the importance of it and what is being done to protect it globally.
Following the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity (February 2021) and the World Economic Forum’s global risk report (2022) biodiversity loss is ranked as one of the most severe risks facing humanity in the coming decade.
But what are we doing to safeguard biodiversity loss and are we doing enough and quickly enough? It is well accepted in the climate change space that, if we wait for regulation to enforce a change in behaviour, then this is waiting too long. Action needs to be taken based on the scientific evidence rather than waiting until we are being forced to act by the government.
Like in so many areas around the environment and climate change there seems to be an inertia and a reluctance to take proactive steps. This is a concern. Are we all waiting for regulation to force us to act rather than taking steps to change our processes now? Certainly in business this feels like it’s the case.
The Environment Act 2021, which went live in November 2021, sets out the obligation for a 10% biodiversity net gain to be met in planning applications in England from November 2023 onwards. A biodiversity calculator has been provided allowing for the biodiversity of a site to be calculated and proposals to be included in the application for a 10% net gain, on site preferably, but off-site if that cannot be achieved on site. The Act also creates the Nature Recovery Network which is up and running with the Living England Habitat map (provided by Natural England) and citizen science projects.
As biodiversity targets are devolved, the situation in Wales is slightly different in that biodiversity targets are addressed by the Wales Biodiversity Partnership and are contained within the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 under the resilient Wales goal.
The Law Society is flagging biodiversity loss as a future area of risk in the rapidly emerging environmental litigation. Over the next 30 years the Law Society and Clyde & Co solicitors anticipate that one of the most challenging legal questions will be how to hold corporate actors accountable for biodiversity loss that they/their actions have contributed to. The law will move innovatively to provide novel legal approaches to proving ‘causation’ between action and loss and how to seek redress/compensation for those losses.
The jury can’t be out on the question of whether capitalism has been the driver of the climate crisis, but this biodiversity loss is not something that can be compensated for with money. Whilst a lot of work is going ahead to be able to put monetary value onto natural assets such as trees, plants, animals, fungi and ecosystems, this really is putting a money label on something which really is priceless.
In the world of Trees, calculators to establish the value of trees are starting to be widely used. From the CAVAT valuation system (2008) to the i-tree eco and Treezilla. The newer the calculator the more likely it is to be able to value the exact tree and give more information about the full suite of ecosystem services that the tree provides.
The ABI Climate Change roadmap (June 2022) makes clear that loss of natural habitats and biodiversity will result in systemic risks through extreme weather and disruption to our environment, causing a negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing, along with an increased risk of infectious diseases and pandemics. The roadmap will be refreshed annually to stay up to date with science and objectives around GHGs, biodiversity and nature conservation.
So bringing all these strands together what can we conclude?
We know that the ABI is clear that the financial strength of the insurance industry puts an onus on the industry to drive change at a faster rate than legislation will cause. The ABI recognise the importance of biodiversity in this action. The penalty for not taking action soon is that we will be unprepared for the biggest risk we are all facing this decade. Failing to work to safeguard biodiversity will only serve to increase risk through natural disasters. If the industry waits to reflect what is being compelled in legislation it will be too late. The time is ticking on this next decade.
The risk faced by insurance companies, as well as the existential risk of climate change, is an increase in natural disasters and costly claims. As well as claims risk there is the emerging risk on the horizon that the innovation around climate change litigation could mean a risk that processes and procedures could be put under scrutiny before the Court.
The question of whether the industry is ready to face that risk is not an easy one to answer.
It’s because Im concerned about the future of the rabbit population that live close to my house. In the last 6 months I’ve moved house. I had to make the choice to move house to down-size, reduce a commute and release some equity from our old house. The decision was pretty emotional to make, to relocate, and the process was stressful. So this makes me worried, why?
Well there are some open fields close to my new house where I walk my dogs. Each morning, if Im lucky, I’ll see rabbits running around the fields and into the hedgerows. If I don’t see them I know they’re there because of the little ‘presents’ they’ve left dotted around the field (see picture above 🤣). But little do they know but they too will shortly need to move house. Planning permission has been granted for the development of the green fields to build some housing. This makes me feel so sad because, regardless of the protections put into the planning permission, there will come a day when the diggers roll in and the rabbits will be turfed out. No notice, or warning to them and they will have to move on and find a new home. I can only imagine the stress that will cause them and the number of them (and other animals, plants, fungi) who will be lost in the move and simply will not make it to a new home.
In very local terms, this has got me to thinking more and more about biodiversity, the importance of it and what is being done to protect it globally.
Following the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity (February 2021) and the World Economic Forum’s global risk report (2022) biodiversity loss is ranked as one of the most severe risks facing humanity in the coming decade.
But what are we doing to safeguard biodiversity loss and are we doing enough and quickly enough? It is well accepted in the climate change space that, if we wait for regulation to enforce a change in behaviour, then this is waiting too long. Action needs to be taken based on the scientific evidence rather than waiting until we are being forced to act by the government.
Like in so many areas around the environment and climate change there seems to be an inertia and a reluctance to take proactive steps. This is a concern. Are we all waiting for regulation to force us to act rather than taking steps to change our processes now? Certainly in business this feels like it’s the case.
The Environment Act 2021, which went live in November 2021, sets out the obligation for a 10% biodiversity net gain to be met in planning applications in England from November 2023 onwards. A biodiversity calculator has been provided allowing for the biodiversity of a site to be calculated and proposals to be included in the application for a 10% net gain, on site preferably, but off-site if that cannot be achieved on site. The Act also creates the Nature Recovery Network which is up and running with the Living England Habitat map (provided by Natural England) and citizen science projects.
As biodiversity targets are devolved, the situation in Wales is slightly different in that biodiversity targets are addressed by the Wales Biodiversity Partnership and are contained within the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 under the resilient Wales goal.
The Law Society is flagging biodiversity loss as a future area of risk in the rapidly emerging environmental litigation. Over the next 30 years the Law Society and Clyde & Co solicitors anticipate that one of the most challenging legal questions will be how to hold corporate actors accountable for biodiversity loss that they/their actions have contributed to. The law will move innovatively to provide novel legal approaches to proving ‘causation’ between action and loss and how to seek redress/compensation for those losses.
The jury can’t be out on the question of whether capitalism has been the driver of the climate crisis, but this biodiversity loss is not something that can be compensated for with money. Whilst a lot of work is going ahead to be able to put monetary value onto natural assets such as trees, plants, animals, fungi and ecosystems, this really is putting a money label on something which really is priceless.
In the world of Trees, calculators to establish the value of trees are starting to be widely used. From the CAVAT valuation system (2008) to the i-tree eco and Treezilla. The newer the calculator the more likely it is to be able to value the exact tree and give more information about the full suite of ecosystem services that the tree provides.
The ABI Climate Change roadmap (June 2022) makes clear that loss of natural habitats and biodiversity will result in systemic risks through extreme weather and disruption to our environment, causing a negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing, along with an increased risk of infectious diseases and pandemics. The roadmap will be refreshed annually to stay up to date with science and objectives around GHGs, biodiversity and nature conservation.
So bringing all these strands together what can we conclude?
We know that the ABI is clear that the financial strength of the insurance industry puts an onus on the industry to drive change at a faster rate than legislation will cause. The ABI recognise the importance of biodiversity in this action. The penalty for not taking action soon is that we will be unprepared for the biggest risk we are all facing this decade. Failing to work to safeguard biodiversity will only serve to increase risk through natural disasters. If the industry waits to reflect what is being compelled in legislation it will be too late. The time is ticking on this next decade.
The risk faced by insurance companies, as well as the existential risk of climate change, is an increase in natural disasters and costly claims. As well as claims risk there is the emerging risk on the horizon that the innovation around climate change litigation could mean a risk that processes and procedures could be put under scrutiny before the Court.
The question of whether the industry is ready to face that risk is not an easy one to answer.
