date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:18:36 -0000 from: "Stephanie Ferguson" subject: UKCIP news to: "Stephanie Ferguson" Dear Colleague 1. Building Knowledge for a Changing Climate initiative and report launch 2. Climate change and the housing industry event 3. Working with Business strategy consultation 4. Working with local government 5. Climate change and demand for water 6. IPCC to consider carbon sequestration and regional climate forecasts in 4th assessment 7. Regional scenario maps on website 8. Communications feedback 9. Forward look 1. Building Knowledge for a Changing Climate initiative and report launch A joint £2-million EPSRC/UKCIP research initiative on the impacts of climate change on the built environment is to be launched by Minister for Environment and the Agri-environment, Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP, today 3 March at an event held in conjunction with the Insititution of Civil Engineers. A report outlining the six research projects and wider research agenda, developed with stakeholders, is also published today. For a hard copy, please contact UKCIP, or see [1]www.ukcip.org.uk/built_enviro/built_enviro.html for more information and to download. 2. Climate change and the housing industry event UKCIP are among the speakers at a CIRIA event in London on 4th June, to be launched by Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP. Other speakers are from Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Association of British Insurers,and Arup For further information, see [2]www.ciria.org. 3. Working with Business strategy consultation UKCIP wants to engage a wider section of the business community, so that the many different sectors can start to consider how they will be affected by climate change. To build on existing relationships, we plan to develop identify new sectors and create a new section of our website, accessible from the home page. We would welcome your views about our draft strategy, recently discussed with the government's Advisory Committee for Business and the Environment (ACBE). See [3]www.ukcip.org.uk/business/business.htm 4. Working with local government UKCIP and the Innovation and Development Agency (IdeA) have agreed to produce information for local authorities on climate change impacts on the full set of tasks undertaken by them. UKCIP and IdeA will work with the LGA, ODPM, the devolved administrations, and the members of the "Councils for Climate Protection" to produce a checklist of impacts against which local authorities can test their actions and policies. This follows the drafting of an initial document by Andy Reisinger, on secondment with UKCIP from the NZ government last December. If you would like to be involved in writing the next draft, contact Chris West or Steve Waller at IdeA ([4]steve.waller@idea.gov.uk). 5. Climate change and demand for water A new study on the demand for water has been completed and is now available via our website: [5]www.ukcip.org.uk/water_demand/water_demand.html. Funded by Defra, the study was undertaken to ensure that climate change was considered not just from a water supply perspective, but also in relation to demand. A stakeholder forum to discuss the findings will be held in the Spring. Consideration is being given to production of a summary report. 6. IPCC to consider carbon sequestration and regional climate forecasts in 4th assessment The politically sensitive issues of carbon sequestration and regional climate forecasts are to form part of the fourth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The assessment, due in 2007, was discussed by some 300 IPCC members in Paris on 19-21 February. Sequestration was chosen as the subject for a special report, separate from the main assessment. After the meeting, Rajendra Pachauri, director of the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi and chair of the IPCC, confirmed that more detailed regional models of the impact of climate change would be considered by the assessment's authors. For more information, see [6]www.ipcc.ch. 7. Regional scenario maps on website New maps based on UKCIP02 climate scenario data are now available on the website. They provide a regional focus of the UK-wide maps seen previously. See [7]www.ukcip.org.uk/climate_change/future_uk.html. 8. Communications feedback Brief update on your responses: 65 returned. All like e-news! Fact sheets for different sectors are also in demand, and we will be getting on with these in the coming months, in line with our Working with Business strategy. Mixed views as to whether hard copies of reports are needed, but people are generally more positive about downloading material than they were a couple of years ago. Media relations is not a general priority, but useful to raise awareness of climate change or to help meet specific objectives. It varies as to how much people have seen references to UKCIP. Discussion groups are not much in demand - you don't have time! This will be useful information for the new communications manager, so many thanks for returning the forms. We'll contact you directly if you made specific comments or expressed interest in training or discussion groups. 9. Forward look BBC Radio 4's Archers is due to include a climate change theme in the coming weeks, when Spring comes early. Not sure of dates, but regular listeners will enjoy. Climate adaptation: risk, uncertainty and decision-making (launch date tbc please contact UKCIP if you're waiting to use this report) West Midlands scoping study launch (Summer 03) We look forward to meeting you at one of the above events or hearing from you via phone or email. Regards Chris West Director, UKCIP Based at the University of Oxford and funded by DEFRA, UKCIP helps organisations assess how they will be affected by climate change, so they can prepare for its impacts. UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) Draft Strategy for Working with Business March 2003 INTRODUCTION UKCIP has successfully worked with some business sectors (e.g. water and insurance) over a number of years to raise awareness of climate change. See Annex 1 on existing business/UKCIP links. The current issue is how to engage with the wider business community that has its own specific needs and diverse interests. Aims To develop a strategy to help meet the business sector's needs for information on climate change impacts, and on the adaptation options available. 1. It should complement the work of the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment (ACBE) and be consistent with ACBE's recommendations to Government; 2. It should support UK domestic policy on climate change impacts and adaptation by synergy with the inter-departmental process and other activities as appropriate; 3. It should address climate change impacts as part of the wider sustainable development issue; 4. It should seek to address issues identified as important by business itself in a way accessible to business people; 5. It should increase the capacity of business to address its own needs; 6. It should ideally use existing mechanisms for delivery that have earned some trust from business; 7. It should focus as much on engaging the community and on raising awareness as on the development of research agendas. ONGOING ACTIVITIES UKCIP has been working with the private sector for a number of years. This includes: a. Almost 50 private sector organisations have funded, or been on the steering committees of regional scoping studies; b. There are water companies on the steering committees of the studies Regional Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Impacts (REGIS) and Climate Change and the Demand for Water (CC:DEW); c. The Crown Estate is a major funder of the Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change project (MarClim); d. Anglian Water and Nottcutts Nurseries are funders for the Gardens study. A list of businesses with UKCIP links is provided in Annex 1. Water Industry UKCIP is working with the water companies on both the supply and demand sides. The industry has used UKCIP climate change scenarios to look at water supply changes, and UKCIP and the water companies are engaged in a study CC-DEW looking at water demand changes due to climate change. The results of this study will be used in the fourth periodic review of water prices. A final stakeholder workshop is scheduled for Spring 2003 to coincide with the publication of the CC-DEW report. Subject to resources, UKCIP intends to produce a separate leaflet for distribution based upon the executive summary of the report. Built Environment UKCIP has entered into a major three-year research initiative, in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), which aims to provide an assessment of the impacts of climate change on the built environment. The programme will address impacts on: urban areas; the construction sector; transport infrastructure; the energy sector; coastal and river engineering and water resources; and cultural heritage. This provides a major new opportunity in developing research linked to the needs of stakeholders in this very large sector. The initiative represents the start of a new mode of operation by the research councils, and UKCIP will need to continue to be very actively engaged within the process to ensure ongoing stakeholder involvement. Businesses have been engaged in the following ways: The 2001 research fora in London and Edinburgh were attended by about 180 built environment professionals. Of these, approx 80% of the London attendees were from the private sector, compared to 30% at the Edinburgh event. Railtrack, Scottish Water, National Grid , the Association of British Insurers and Buro Happold were on the shortlisting panel that reviewed expressions of interest to EPSRC. It was made clear to researchers that projects would only be funded under the initiative if stakeholders were committed to being project partners. The projects chosen by EPSRC include numerous private sector organisations as collaborators, from engineering firms, energy producers and distributors, transport companies, water companies, port operators, professional institutes and the insurance industry. These have all committed time and in some cases, data and resources, to the projects. Details of the projects, in the context of a wider research agenda, are outlined in a short report available from UKCIP. A Stakeholder Forum, to be set up by UKCIP, will oversee the portfolio will have a majority of private sector organisations. Tools, Data and Communication Guidance on handling risk and uncertainty in decision-making will be published in Spring 2003; A methodology for costing the impacts of climate change will be published shortly afterwards; UKCIP will prepare a document that describes how to undertake a UKCIP study and use the UKCIP toolkit; UKCIP is preparing a checklist for individual organisations/companies to use to assess their vulnerability to climate change, to be available via the UKCIP website. (This would complement ACBE's "Sector specific risk and opportunities from predicted changes to UK climate"). It will be illustrated with concrete examples of impacts, either already present or anticipated and planned for. These tools should prove very useful for UKCIP stakeholders and in particular should help to engage the business community, as the risk and uncertainty guidance is framed around the "normal" project decision-making cycle that many businesses use; the costings methodology will enable businesses, for the first time, to begin to attach a monetary value to climate change impacts and compare them to the costs of adaptation. PROPOSED COURSE OF ACTION A three point course of action is proposed: 1. UKCIP will work with a selected Pilot Partner Group of Trade Associations to enable them to deliver useful, accurate and sector-relevant information to their members; 2. Repeat the methodology developed in 1 to access Other Routes into Business; 3. Manage the ongoing programme; 1. Pilot Partner Group of Trade Associations UKCIP are working with the Department of Trade and Industry, the Confederation of British Industry, and the devolved administrations to identify a small number (20?) of Trade Associations suitable as UKCIP partner organisations, based on previous experience and expressed interest. UKCIP would like to build on the work already done by ACBE in this area, possibly using the same group of Trade Associations that ACBE has had contact with. The intention is then to ask the Pilot Partner Group of Trade Associations to each identify an individual who would come to UKCIP (for a few days together or over several visits?) for: a. An introduction to the UKCIP programme; b. Training in climate impacts, UKCIP methods, quality control; c. Assistance with mining existing study reports and library materials; d. Assembly of a set of impacts/adaptation options relevant to their business. The partners would then return to their host Trade Associations to write/lead a team writing business- and sector-friendly factsheets. UKCIP will check the technical content of the factsheets. These would then be distributed by the Trade Associations. Many of these bodies already provide fact-sheets; some will have provided climate change fact-sheets, often from a mitigation viewpoint. Others already have house newsletters, magazines, websites, etc. The issue of intellectual property rights and branding will need to be addressed. At this stage it is probably best not to emphasise the ensuing links from any preliminary scoping study to a more expensive and off-putting full research project, but a factsheet would advise that UKCIP can help with further work. Over-emphasis on the science and research interest will put off many business readers. For this first group, individual or very limited numbers would be hosted at each time, in order to build up experience. Organisers of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Summit requested such access and help with producing fact-sheets on 14 issues to be covered at the Summit, so we have some experience of how this can work. A parallel exercise to build understanding of climate change impacts and increase adaptation capacity among local authorities is being undertaken by UKCIP in conjunction with the Improvement and Development Agency and the Local Government Association. Useful lessons should be learnt from these two exercises. 2. Other Routes into Business Once the methodology is thus trialled and evaluated, further groups of bodies could be selected or invited to undertake similar work. At a national level, such bodies are the Trade Association Federation, British Chambers of Commerce, Business in the Community, Trade Unions, large individual companies and others; a further set of Trade Associations and the professional Institutes would cover other business sectors while at a regional/local level there are Regional Development Agencies, Chambers of Commerce, and other business-focussed groups. Individuals engaged in the first pilot group could provide the basis for an advisory panel, if this was useful. This stage would have to be decoupled physically from UKCIP premises to allow more individuals to participate, but each would receive less assistance, and arrangements for wider access to existing material would have to be provided. 3. Manage the ongoing programme At this stage it would be worth approaching all Trade Associations and Chambers of Commerce to publicise the existence of a package consisting of: a. Guidance on the training available; b. Templates for paper and web-based fact-sheets; c. Core presentation material and a Q&A briefing for use by the named person; d. Information on the network of partners who have undertaken this task, and who would be able to assist further iterations; e. Limited access to a named individual at UKCIP for assistance. This package could, given sufficient resources, form another tool in the UKCIP toolbox entitled "How to assemble a climate change impacts factsheet for your members". There would be a gradual and open process of moving from tight UKCIP control of quality where its own brand is involved to a situation where partners have more autonomy to produce their own brand of product. Continuing enquiries about producing further member fact-sheets will be referred to the tool above, while UKCIP will deal constructively with any intention expressed to undertake further work. The provision of ongoing assistance to the network of partners will have resource implications. In parallel with this awareness-raising stream, there will be opportunities to press for some sectoral or generic business-relevant studies into the impacts of Climate Change and Adaptation Options. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY TO SUPPORT WORK WITH PRIVATE SECTOR UKCIP sees its work with business as being primarily about communication, and much is already included above. However a number of specifics can be highlighted: a. An initial meeting with the Trade Association would be needed to gain their support; b. UKCIP would supply the UKCIP logo for production by the trade association. Factsheets would be branded by the trade association; c. UKCIP and each Trade Association would issue a joint news release to their trade media to announce that they were working together to provide information to a given sector, and that a fact-sheet and advice was available from both; d. The UKCIP e-newsletter will announce plans for the initiative and publicise the factsheets as they become available. The Trade Association would do the same via their own newsletters and communications; e. A new business page on the UKCIP Website will be created in the first instance, with links to ACBE and the Trade Association factsheets, outlining our plans to work in partnership with businesses, explaining that we recognise that different sectors will have different levels of concern and impacts. f. Depending on the level of take-up, we could develop the site to become a gateway for business, with links to each partner organisation's site; g. UKCIP will provide introductory leaflets to the Trade Association, and reference copies of other tools and reports; h. Consideration will be given to a display panel outlining these partnerships. UKCIP could provide material for Trade Association production of display panels on climate change impacts and adaptation; i. As UKCIP stakeholders, the partner Trade Associations would receive details of events and the UKCIP e-newsletter and would be invited to user fora. The format for the next user forum will be determined in 12 months' time, but a business slant has already been proposed. Annex 1 - Some Businesses and Organisations involved in UKCIP studies Acordis Anglian Water Arla Foods Plc Arkleton Trust Asda Stores Limited Associated British Ports Association of British Insurers Association of Electricity Producers Atkins Avesta Polarit AXA Insurance Cadbury Plc Carlton TV CBI Country Land & Business Association Country Life Magazine Crown Estate Duchy of Cornwall East Midlands Airport Federation of Small Businesses Food Technopole Humber Growers Ltd London Electricity London Tourist Board Manchester Airport Marsh UK Ltd Midlands Environment Business Club NatWest Bank Northumbrian Water North West Water Norwich Union Notcutts Nurseries PROSPER Rolls Royce plc Severn Trent Water Shepherd Building Group South West Tourism South West Water St George plc SWEB SWEL Tarmac plc Thames Water Toyota UK TXU Europe Power Ltd Wessex Water Westcountry Television Westcountry Tourist Board Wilkinson Welsh Water Yorkshire Electricity Yorkshire Tourist Board Yorkshire Water Services ___________________________ Stephanie Ferguson Administrative Assistant UK Climate Impacts Programme Union House, 12-16 St Michael's Street, Oxford OX1 2DU Tel. 01865 431254 Fax. 01865 432077 email [8]stephanie.ferguson@ukcip.org.uk [9]www.ukcip.org.uk