Environment Agency Chief Sir James Bevan has said that while climate change brings “fearsome risks” it also brings huge opportunities and we can tackle climate change successfully if we get our response right.

Speaking to the Whitehall and Industry Group on Tuesday, Sir James told his audience that his original working title for the speech was: ‘Is climate change the new Brexit?’

He referred to similarities between Brexit and climate change, saying that the timescales of both are uncertain and the consequences highly contested. However, he continued:

“Most important of all, we have agency on both: the key factor in whether either of them ultimately turn out for better or for worse is what we do now.”

According the EA Chief, resilience to climate change needs to be at the top of everyone’s agenda, with the consequences of sea level rise and more extreme weather leading to:

• more frequent and more extreme flooding;
• faster and more extreme coastal erosion;
• more frequent and more extreme droughts,
• water shortages and fires;
• more pollution;
• and potentially existential damage to habitats, plants and wildlife
• building stronger flood defences to reduce the vulnerability of communities along coasts and rivers
• investing in new reservoirs and desalination plants
• building infrastructure that is designed to be resilient to more extreme weather

He warned of the “profound and potentially terminal consequences” unless the effects are tackled, saying that some parts of the planet, including in the UK, may become unliveable.

The business models of many companies would also cease to work, he said, citing the greatest risk to the water companies is the gap that climate change is likely to open up between the supply of water and the demand for it – “the Jaws of Death”.

Without enough water or the other inputs which climate change puts at risk, the wider economy may cease to function, he said:

“Our politics may be changed utterly, as people demand action from their leaders on what may become the only issue that matters. Our world may become more dangerous, as conflict over water and other scarce resources escalate.”

How to tackle climate change successfully

He told the Group, whose membership is composed of top FTSE companies, Whitehall departments, charities, universities, local authorities and government agencies:

“The good news is that it doesn’t have to be like this. We can tackle climate change successfully if we act now and act together. We know what we need to do: mitigate and adapt.”

“A truly successful response to climate change requires us not just to change our technology but to change our whole way of living and of thinking. We need a revolution in the head. This is about much more than just cutting emissions – it’s about turning our thinking on its head to plan for a sustainable future in which we are responsible consumers of stuff.”

Sir James flagged up the importance of making the best lifestyle choices those choices, including how we work, travel, the kind of buildings we live in, the food we eat, how we use the land around us, how we transport the things we need, how we heat our homes, “right down to how we wash ourselves and how we dry our clothes.”

“We need most of all to work with rather than against nature”

He also highlighted a wide range of measures needed to adapt to its effects, which include:

• building stronger flood defences to reduce the vulnerability of communities along coasts and rivers
• investing in new reservoirs and desalination plants
• building infrastructure that is designed to be resilient to more extreme weather

However, he cautioned:

“But again, it’s not really about the hardware in our cities, it’s about the software in our heads. It’s about how we think and behave.“

He told his audience:

“While we do need more defences and more resilient infrastructure, we need most of all to work with rather than against nature and to build places and communities which are naturally resilient to a changing climate.”

“And we need to face up to some inconvenient truths: like the fact that some of our communities are in places – eroding coastlines, flood-prone floodplains - which will not be safe or liveable over the long term; and that the best response may ultimately be not to build ever higher walls until the day the waves inevitably come over the top, but to move the communities away from the risk.”

Turning risk into opportunity

He suggested that while climate change brings “fearsome risks” it also brings huge opportunities.

• Opportunities for business: The insurance companies are pricing climate change into their policies and looking to help their customers become more resilient to its effects, not least because that can cut insurance payouts when things like flooding happen. The water companies, energy companies, retail sector and others see the hard-nosed business sense in investing now for resilience later.
• Opportunities for Finance Ministries, business planners and investors: The cost of mitigating and adapting to climate change is far outweighed by the economic benefits – in terms of damage foregone, extra growth achieved through new investment and infrastructure, prosperity boosted through innovative technology, profits made from new business opportunity.

He told his audience:

“There’s a fundamental point here and it’s this: good business can benefit the environment, and there’s money in mitigation. We can cut emissions, enhance resilience, make money and create a better world, all at the same time.”

Singling out international pension funds as an example, he suggested that establishing schemes which (say) allow those pension funds to invest in planting the right trees in the right places would offer multiple benefits. These included reducing flood risk, improving water quality, climate change mitigation, reductions in air pollution and enhanced landscapes and wellbeing.

“Critically, it would also produce attractive long term regular commercial returns for the pension fund as a proportion of the mature trees were harvested and sold every year.”

“Opportunities for government – you should never waste a good crisis”

Commenting on opportunities for government, he said:

“We all know that you should never waste a good crisis. If (like Brexit) climate change has created an unfrozen moment where what was not politically possible now becomes essential, there’s an opportunity to craft new policies that will fit us for a climate changed future, and a better one.”

On opportunities for politicians, he continued:

“The climate strike movement among schoolchildren shows not only that young people put this issue at the top of the agenda, but that they are prepared to do something about it. The politicians and parties that embrace and capitalise on this youth movement will be far more powerful than those that don’t.”

Climate change also offered NGOs the opportunity to enlist a new generation of young people outraged at the risks to their future.

Returing to his theme of the similarities between the climate change emergency and Brexit, Sir James listed the following seven lessons to learn from Brixit on how to tackle climate change.

• look for the opportunities as well as the risks
• if it matters, give it absolute priority
• if you’re tackling a unique challenge, don’t run it as business as usual
• use reasonable worst case scenarios to stress test your organisation
• think about your reputation
• mind your language
• Build a broad coalition

Brexit and climate change - if you want to succeed, build a broad coalition

Sir James drew particular attention to the type of language used in the context of both Brexit and climate change, saying:

“There have been a lot of intemperate words on all sides in the Brexit debate. They have usually generated more heat than light. The language we use matters. The right language can frame the debate in the right way. Striking language can get people’s attention.”

“So too with climate change. If words like “climate change” and “global warming” have become a turn-off for most ordinary people, let’s use different words. Perhaps we should stop talking about climate change and call it what it now is: a climate emergency.”

Better still, he continued, “let’s use language that lifts our emotions up rather than drags us all down. Let’s talk about what the right response to climate change will give us: sweet water, clean air, safe homes, a planet that stays blue and green not brown and grey.”

He also emphasised that “if you want to succeed, build a broad coalition. Not just cross party, but between government, business and the third sector, and critically with the public.”

In conclusion, Sir James told his audience:

“While climate change isn’t the new Brexit, pulling together as a nation to focus on tackling climate change could help bring our country back together. After nearly three years of argument over Brexit, all the polls show that most people want to move on.”

“Many want something bigger to believe in that they can work towards and connect with on an emotional level. Climate change could provide that rallying point. Because while there may or may not turn out to be a Plan B for Brexit, there is no Planet B for us.”