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VIEWS
VIEW POINT
Dr Victoria Hutchinson from AtkinsRealis’ environmental practice explores how impact assessments can help unlock value as well as greater investment in projects – in a more favourable ESG context – and illustrates what this looks like
F
ormer Prime Minister Boris Johnson famously blamed ‘newt counting’ for delays in housebuilding projects – a not-so-subtle dig at the role of environmental services.
That was the summer of 2020, and as we know, so much has changed politically, economically and environmentally since then – not least how we deliver environmental services. The tools, insights and expertise we bring to developments is a far cry from counting newts – although the protection of our endangered species remains a priority.
The environment practice of today takes in the entire spectrum of the built environment. From design to delivery, ecological to economic expertise, social science to data science, we bring our integrated, systems thinking approach to bear from the earliest stages of projects all the way through to end-of-life.
Part of the reason for this is that globally we face more flooding, more drought, more extreme weather conditions: our future is fraught with climatic risks. Planning is becoming harder – and yet there is growing pressure from investors, stakeholders and citizens to deliver a positive impact on our environment, our ecology and our places.
Reducing the environmental barriers to development To meet the scale of the challenge, we need to change. The environment used to be seen as a barrier that got in the way of development. Proposals would be submitted, surveys and impact assessments carried out, and breath held that the results wouldn’t hold up the project, or send the designs back to be reworked. But that’s no longer an appropriate approach. We recognise that nature,
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So much has changed politically, economically and environmentally since 2020, and the tools and expertise we bring to developments is a far cry from ‘counting newts’
people and communities need to be at the heart of decision-making, and at the front-end of planning. We face a daunting range of interconnected challenges – our solutions cannot simply reduce carbon emissions, but build thriving communities, empower inclusive growth, and champion biodiversity net gain. Only by creating truly holistic solutions can we build infrastructure fit for the future. Thankfully, that reality is being recognised by clients. Investment is increasingly tied to the much-needed task of regional rebalancing, developing the transport and employment foundations for long-lasting, sustainable growth. Stakeholders now expect environmental data, insight and answers to the most pressing questions of our time, and investors want clear business cases that show an understanding and mitigation of risk and to understand how their investments meet the demands of the ESG agenda.
What are the challenges? Lack of access to funding continues to be a challenge. A lot of green finance is available, but obtaining it demands innovative ways of demonstrating how we can extract clear benefits, to our communities, our places and our environment.
Image by Steph Riddell (Pixabay)
Meanwhile, our changing climate is exacerbating what were already a huge range of risks. Once-in-a-century events are now happening regularly, and our often-ageing infrastructure is ill-equipped. To protect communities, it’s essential we start embedding climate change resilience into the design and planning of our major infrastructure projects. Yet our investments face an uncertain landscape. That uncertainty remains the biggest barrier to change. The UK’s legal deadline for net zero is getting closer, but there is often not yet a clear pathway to deliver on it. How can we plan when we don’t know what the regulatory demands, or the market economics of carbon and biodiversity, will look like a few years from now? That’s why the approach taken to environmental services needs to reflect the new world we live in, migrating from a ‘tunnel vision’ focus on financial capital to a wider lens that captures social, natural, and many other forms of capital.
ADF OCTOBER 2023
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