Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency speech to the Climate Action Society

Published 20 February 2019

Climate Action Society, University College London, Wednesday 20 February 2019

Good evening.

“I want you to panic.” This simple message came from 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg.

It caught the world’s attention. It ignited Friday’s schools climate strike. And – in a world where people talk about climate change all the time in unthreatening generalities – it brilliantly communicated the fact that climate change is an immediate problem.

We need activists like Greta Thunberg to push climate change up the agenda.

And, to challenge people in positions of power – (like me) – to work harder, and do better, because…

Last year – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said we have 12 years to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels. Otherwise adapting to hotter days, fiercer fires, storms, and rising seas, will get radically more difficult. Last month – the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report ranked extreme weather events first, and the failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation second, on its table of global risks by likelihood.

Last week – the Institute for Public Policy Research released a report saying that since 1950, the number of floods across the world has increased 15 times, extreme temperature events 20 times, and wildfires seven-fold. But… as members of the Climate Action Society, I am going to assume that you already know all of that. Instead, I’m going to talk about what climate change could mean for you in the next stage of your career.

Whether you go to work in private business, public service, academia, the media, or a great green NGO like Greenpeace, WWF, or Friends of the Earth… every organisation will be touched (in one way or another) by climate change. At the Environment Agency, one of our roles is as a Category 1 emergency responder during flood incidents. In December 2015, I was in France taking part in the negotiations for the Paris Agreement. At the same time, the Environment Agency was responding to some of the worst flooding England had ever seen. On December 5, 341.4 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours at Honister Pass in the Lake District – a record. The flooding of northern towns and villages did not let up until February. The strain such events puts on individuals, families, and communities, stays long after the flood water has receded. The emotional distress remains throughout the recovery, when every rain cloud brings fresh fear.

In those urgent situations – (which we know are set to become more severe because of climate change) – it is vital that my colleagues don’t panic. They need to act calmly and professionally to help people get through the immediate impacts, and return to normal as quickly as possible.

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, then I’d love you to consider working for the Environment Agency. But, there are many other less obvious organisations that need people like you…    People who understand the urgency of acting on climate change, and have knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm to bring to that work. When we talk about tackling climate change the emphasis is usually on reducing emissions.

This is with good reason: the world is not doing enough.

But, sadly, because of the increasing physical impacts that are now part of all future climate scenarios, we also need to increase our efforts to prepare for them.

Adaptation is not a competing agenda to reducing emissions, the two things go together.

It doesn’t make sense to build an energy efficient house that could be washed away in a flood.

Globally, climate resilience measures are predominantly provided by the public sector, but cross-sector collaboration is key.

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