Climate Change & Sustainability Group
Climate Change & Sustainability Sub-group has been launched to embed sustainability and climate resilience into the development of not just post-industrial brownfield land, but wider development. The intent is to raise awareness and foster the skills necessary to transform our approach to the development of this land. This offers benefits in delivering improved soil health, biodiversity, and climate change and extreme weather events mitigation.
Specialists in Land Condition (SiLCs) have a pivotal role to play, not just in reducing the emissions arising from brownfield land regeneration and embedding sustainability/net zero, but also in restoring the ecosystem services we collectively rely on to deliver fresh water, capture carbon, prevent flooding and grow crops. Key to this is understanding land condition, and how it contributes to delivering nature-based solutions. Solutions that reduce, for instance, the risk of flooding, sequester carbon, provide green spaces and produce renewable energy such as ground source heat.
Working with SiLC’s constituent professional institutions, the Sub-group will leverage the expertise and experience across the brownfield development community and beyond to build the capacity of SiLCs to embed sustainable development practices into how brownfield sites are managed. It is being led by co-chairs Claire Dickinson and Mark Hill.
It is clear, following Climate COP27 and Biodiversity COP15, that both crises pose a systemic risk that affects every aspect of our lives, from extreme weather effects to food security and even the investments that underpin our pensions. Mitigating and adapting to climate change is a societal endeavour that poses both generation-defining challenges and huge opportunities. Continuing with business as usual is no longer an option.
If you are a registered SiLC and would like to get involved or represent a body that would be interested in working with the SiLC Sub-group, please e-mail the chairs using: silc.ccands@gmail.com.