Preparing for COP26? The Climate Papers is a series of podcasts brought to you by the COP26 Universities Network; a network of more than 55 UK universities coordinated by The Grantham Institute at Imperial College, working together to support ambitious outcomes for climate action at COP26 and beyond.  Each podcast explores a topic in one of the COP26 Universities Network’s briefing papers, which can be found here (https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/cop26/briefings/)

16-year-old Dara McAnulty wins the Prize for Nature Writing and Benedict Macdonald wins first ever Writing on Global Conservation Prize

The winner for the much-loved Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing has been announced at a virtual awards ceremony on September 8th. Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty chronicles the turning of the then 15-year-old’s world and breaks the mould of modern nature writing. As the youngest ever winner of a major literary prize, Dara’s book is an extraordinary portrayal of his intense connection to the natural world alongside his perspective as an autistic teenager juggling exams, friendships and a life of campaigning. Mike Parker’s beautiful On the Red Hill was awarded highly commended in the category.

Hear Dara McAnulty sharing his thoughts on winning the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing here

This year’s prize has been extended to include a second category for books about global conservation and climate change, and Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald is its inaugural winner. Praised as ‘visionary’ by conservationists and landowners alike, Rebirding sets out a compelling manifesto for restoring Britain’s wildlife, rewilding its species and restoring rural jobs – to the benefit of all. Irreplaceable by Justin Hoffman was awarded highly commended in the category.

Hear Benedict Macdonald expressing his thanks for winning the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation here

Listen to the stories behind each one of this year’s 13 shortlisted books across the two categories as told by the authors to Planet Pod here

‘Closing the Circle on Climate Change’ 1st June 2020

Covid 19 has impacted every aspect of our professional and personal lives. Across all professions and businesses, talk is now of the ‘new normal’ of a safe return to work and post the pandemic and what that might look like. Addressing the climate emergency must be central to that new way of working. Lawyers and law firms have adapted to an alternative way of working, time in front of a screen has replaced time commuting with the obvious environmental benefits that brings. Overnight, ideas that the Legal Sustainability Alliance (LSA) has been advocating for the last 14 years such as reducing air travel and cutting carbon emissions from plant and practices, have become operational everyday practice.

Pollution levels are down, air quality is visibly improved, wildlife is returning to urban landscapes and nature is regenerating. Carbon emissions are predicted to be down in 2020 by between 4-7% which although not huge, it is a significant shift towards helping the UK to achieve its Net Zero targets by 2050. This shutdown is not desirable, the pain and loss of Covid 19 are immense and not the route any of us would have chosen to address climate catastrophe. We do however have to learn the lessons, both for public health and the environment, as well as to see how we can move forwards sustainably.

The LSA is at the forefront of this agenda for the legal profession as a UK network of over 180 law firms supported by the Law Society which seeks to encourage the profession to work more sustainably and to reduce its impact on the planet, not just be reducing emissions but through changed behaviours by working collaboratively with clients and colleagues to share best practice.

At the LSA we would argue that as influencers and leaders, lawyers have the ability to support and challenge themselves, their clients and the policy makers to move this agenda forward. The pandemic shows that we are globally connected and climate change, like Covid, has the power to affect us all. The legal profession has a key role to play. Sustainable business is good business and will of itself become the “new normal”.

The success of The Chancery Lane Project launched in late 2019 which has now, with the help of thousands of hours of pro bono time, created the Climate Contract Playbook and the Green Paper of Model Laws. Both are evidence that “the legal community has a responsibility to ensure the whole machinery of law, public and private, is brought into line with the objective of a just transition to a climate resilient and net zero emissions economy” as Lord Robert Carnwath, CVO, Justice of the Supreme Court says in his foreword to the first edition of the playbook.

As Greta Thunberg says ‘if not now then when? If not you then who?’ This call to action matters now more than ever.

Caroline May, Partner Legal Sustainability Alliance Co Chair LSA

Matt Sparkes, Head of CR Linklaters, Co Chair LSA

If you would like to join the LSA please contact the team at info@legalsustainabilityalliance.com or find out more at www.Legalsustainabilityalliance.com

Calling all LSA members!

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on towns and cities across the UK intensifies, there is an urgent need to link business resources to the needs of communities – in the right place, at the right time and at the right scale. In response Business in the Community (BITC) is launching the National Business Response Network (NBRN).

The NBRN will use BITC ‘boots on the ground’ to work directly with communities across the UK to identify where and what the greatest needs are, focused on the following areas: access to food, keeping people connected through technology, social care for the vulnerable, and support for small businesses.

Find out more here.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

A recent study (published 3 March) by Project Drawdown forms a comprehensive update to list of policy, business, community and individual actions needed to achieve ‘Drawdown’ – the point at which greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere peak and begin declining.

Drawdown’s first comprehensive analysis in 2017 was based around the Paris Agreement, listing refrigerant management, onshore wind and reducing food waste as the top three climate solutions. The updated version details the changes necessary to meet the IPCC’s call to climate action, made in its landmark report on global warming of 1.5C vs 2C above pre-industrial levels – an assertion that has seen the rise of net-zero national, state and business-level pledges accelerate rapidly across the world.

According to the updated report, it would be “feasible” to reach Drawdown by the early 2040s and global net-zero by 2050 without the use of any technologies and practices which do not currently exist – so long as simultaneous transitions towards stopping emissions at the source and sequestering them are made quickly.

More on this from edie.net here

Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

The Department for Transport (DfT) will double its EV charger funding to £10 million, with a focus on residential chargers, as it seeks to encourage more urban dwellers to go electric.

This is the second time the Government has doubled its EV infrastructure funding allowance; last August, £2.5m was allocated to the installation of EV chargers in residential areas, matching a £2.5m pledge made in 2017.

The latest cash injection will go towards installing an additional 3600 streetside chargers across the UK. It could also fund the development of a publicly accessible charger monitoring platform that would show whether individual facilities are in use or out of order.

The DfT says such a system “could then be used by developers and incorporated into sat-navs and route-mapping apps”.

Read more on this here.

Listen to Planet Pod’s podcast on smart cities 

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash