Our Roadmap to 2030Having worked in the sustainability sector for almost 30 years it takes a lot to shock me. But the People’s Emergency Briefing film did just that. And this is a good thing.
The film comes on the back of the UK’s first National Emergency Briefing on the Climate and Nature Crisis held in November last year at attended by over a thousand MPs, peers, senior civil servants, mayors, faith leaders, journalists, artists, activists, business and community leaders. The event aimed to give decision-makers a clear, evidence-based assessment of how climate breakdown and nature loss are already undermining the safety and prosperity of everyone in the UK, and what we can do to change this.
The People’s Emergency Briefing brings together people in local communities across the UK to hear the evidence and discuss how to respond. Sustainability West Midlands (SWM) held a screening with ARUP and the Birmingham & West Midlands Circular Economy Club on 21 April attended by almost 50 individuals.
The 50-minute film combines authoritative scientific content from the Westminster event with reactions from members of the public and some more familiar faces and is designed to help audiences process the information on a more human level. It delivers the facts about the threats, but also the enormous benefits if Government leads genuine emergency action.
The film sets out why nature loss is central to the UK’s security, stability and prosperity and yet the UK now ranks in the bottom 10% of countries globally for biodiversity intactness and, in the West Midlands, only 2.3% of our current land is protected for nature. Nature must sit alongside transport, energy and digital systems in national risk assessments, infrastructure strategies and spending reviews.
The extremes of weather resulting from climate change will increase the number of properties in England at risk of flooding from 6.3 million to around 8 million (about one in four properties) by the middle of the century, with heatwaves causing an increasing number of related deaths associated with cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. Heatwaves are not just a health issue, but a critical threat to housing, transport, and energy infrastructure.
Experts in the film highlight air pollution as a major factor straining the NHS, linked to increased risks of respiratory diseases and premature deaths. We know that the current rate of mortality attributed to particulate air pollution is 4.9% in the West Midlands.
The film highlighted the significant economic risk associated with climate change risks and that, despite initial investments, the transition to clean energy is expected to result in lower long-term energy bills, lower net costs and increased energy security.
There is clear evidence that urgent action will strengthen our economy, our resilience, and quality of life. Analysis released this week by The Health Foundation sets our that Healthy Life Expectancy is decreasing and the gap between our richest and poorest areas widening, with a gap of around 20 years between the most and least deprived areas. This gap reflects not only differences in the burden of disease, but also the broader social, economic and environmental factors that affect health, many of which are influenced by climate change.
The film closes with calls to action including information on how to lobby your MP and demand more urgent action. However, our audience felt that more needed to be done and were frustrated by the lack of local and central action.
There is little in the film on how businesses can change their operations for the benefit of the environment but also because it just makes business sense. Reducing utility consumption, moving to renewables, minimising raw material use and finding outlets for our bi-products will result in efficiency savings and make our companies more resilient.
Our audience also highlighted the need to be able to communicate with individuals with different values and beliefs effectively, and the useful resources from Climate Outreach were flagged as being helpful with this.
We – in our business and local communities – can help make it happen and we have a responsibility to act. And sometimes it takes a shock and to sit with an uncomfortable truth to make that happen.
For SWM, the briefing remined us of the importance of our work with our members and wider stakeholder across the region to:
- Provide evidence in line with our Sustainability Roadmap to 2030 for anyone to access and use in decision making
- Support our members to collaborate and deliver projects which contribute to the sustainability of our region
- Continue with our nationally-recognised work on climate change adaptation and resilience, working with councils, the NHS, land managers and businesses
If you would like to watch the People’s Emergency Briefing our members mac Birmingham are showing the film on Sunday 07 June at 15:00 where our own Project Manager, Morgan Roberts, will join a panel discussion. You can book your tickets on their website.
Anna Bright, Chief Executive, on behalf of SWM
