As part of the launch of their third year of the Climate Crisis Challenge campaign, Property Week hosted an exclusive Climate Crisis Challenge Speed Networking Event on Thursday 21 April 2022.
As founding partners of the campaign, we were delighted to attend and host one of the themed discussions: The increasing role of Biodiversity in business.
In its subsequent magazine coverage (13 May 2022), Property Week quoted Mishcon de Reya planning Partner Daniel Farrand as saying that new legislation in the form of the Environment Act cannot come soon enough:
"Listening to the industry discuss how planning will deliver net zero makes me depressed about biodiversity," he said. "We are miles behind and it is very clear that not all organisations do understand what biodiversity is. It is not universally talked about throughout businesses and not necessarily at the top of people’s agenda." He added: "You do worry if this new statutory requirement for biodiversity is a good move, or if you measure something, maybe companies might end up working to the measure and not innovating beyond that line. I disagree; I think the best companies will stay at the top of innovation and keep doing what they are already doing.
"But there are those in that lazy middle of the bell curve who will need to comply when things are put on a statutory footing, and this may be what’s needed to get everybody up and running. Biodiversity is after all the way we survive on this planet, so we know we must reverse its decline. There’s just uncertainty as to how we get there."
You can read the full feature here, or view a short film here (subscription required).