I attended the "Sustainability amidst instability: How will the UK’s ESG agenda be impacted by political and economic turbulence?" webinar hosted by CoStar on 17 November. It was interesting to hear what the panel had to say in light of COP27 and also the Autumn Statement that was announced earlier in the day.

The panel was made up of Jessica Pilz (Fiera Real Estate), Paul Norman (CoStar), Melanie Leech (British Property Federation), Claire Petricca-Riding (Irwin Mitchell), Gillian Bowman (Knight Frank) and Matt Webster (British Land).

My key takeaways from the webinar were:

• there was consensus (and disappointment) from the panel that there had not been as much of a platform for the built environment at COP27 as at COP26 and it was generally considered to be a missed opportunity. However, what COP27 has highlighted is the lack of focus on adaptation of the built environment to mitigate climate change risks, such as flooding and heat damage and the associated issues with obtaining insurance (the focus having primarily been on reducing emissions). 
• we are not currently on track to keep global warming below 1.5C, although there is still hope. Political and economic focus is currently directed elsewhere amid the cost of living crisis. There was not much in the Autumn Statement regarding the energy efficiency of the built environment (particularly on a commercial level), with focus still largely on reducing costs rather than driving energy improvements. The private sector cannot afford to wait for political policy requiring them to retro-fit, nor to use instability as an excuse not to act. Not least because investors and consumers are driving demand for green spaces and so those who do not upgrade their buildings now could find themselves with stranded assets in the near future.
• biodiversity is as important as lowering emissions. This is because a loss of biodiversity results in the release of carbon into the atmosphere that would otherwise have been stored in nature. There has been progress in the planning sector, with a 10% biodiversity net gain target for new developments. However, this 10% needs to be realised.
• it is vital that we share data (both in terms of successes and those measures that were not as effective) and support each other to ensure the whole sector moves forward. It is also vital that we streamline the way in which energy efficiency is measured so that greenwashing is more readily detected. It is expected that we will see more scrutiny of environmental policies and more litigation in the future.
• the fight against global warming is going to be a constantly evolving journey - it is not necessary or possible to be perfect straight away, but we need to ramp up efforts if we are to have any chance of keeping within the 1.5C increase.