The COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, marks a pivotal moment for global climate action, as the halfway point to 2030, for progressing climate actions set out in the Paris Agreement. Located at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest, COP30 asserts the critical role of the Amazon, biodiverse ecosystems and nature-based solutions in climate action. It also reinforces the urgent need to build on momentum for collective and inclusive decision-making and commitments, placing local capacity and partnerships at the heart of global commitments.
This is precisely where the Landscape Institute’s (LI) policy and technical skills work offer a scalable, robust framework for action. With our wide-ranging skills, interdisciplinary by nature, landscape professionals are ideally placed to integrate climate and nature-based solutions within projects, actively designing and managing landscapes for carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, to deliver tangible, measurable outcomes. Our strategy recognises that the way we design and manage green blue infrastructure can play a crucial role in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, particularly when these are shaped through community co-design and stewardship.
1. Climate change mitigation: Reducing embodied carbon
25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to the built environment and construction sector. In the landscape sector, we recognise that we must play our part in decarbonisation. Over the last 18 months we have worked to identify key issues and develop a suite of tools and guidance to embed carbon consciousness and practice into every stage of a landscape project.
- Landscape Carbon Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work: We have developed a new, free set of resources mapping landscape project activity to the Plan of Work, with stage-by-stage guidance and practical checklists. We want to help landscape and other practitioners incorporate low carbon actions into every stage of a project’s lifecycle, from initial concept to end-of-use and recycling.
- Tackling Greenhouse Gases (GHGs): To help drive down the GHG footprint of materials, we will soon be publishing a range of new tools and guidance that enable landscape professionals assess different products and specify sustainable alternatives. These include:
- A new, searchable database of landscape carbon tools so practitioners can select appropriate tools for their specific projects.
- Practical guidance on Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Product Category Rules (PCRs). This includes details on sourcing and working with them, so as to identify and procure appropriate, data-verified products with reduced carbon and other emissions.
- The Elemental Green Design Tool: To make these practices quantifiable and enforceable, the LI has partnered in the development of a free, web-based tool that helps practitioners systematically assess, track, report and reduce the GHG impact of landscape projects.
These measures turn the LI’s climate policy recommendations into practical, accountable steps, supporting landscape professionals in integrating carbon sequestration and reduction measures, providing us with methods which are now well-integrated with wider professional practices across the construction sector.
Climate Adaptation: Building Resilience
Adapting to our changing climate is a theme that will dominate COP30 discussions. Landscape professionals are at the forefront in helping the UK adapt to climate change, through ensuring landscapes are designed and managed to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. The LI is also taking steps to support this work:
- Our work with the Construction Industry Council’s (CIC) Climate Change Committee has focused on climate resilience themes: water, biodiversity, and urban heat. Through national / international, expert-led webinars, we have disseminated knowledge, best practice case studies and practical information. These support skills development and awareness, helping practitioners implement effective climate solutions on their projects for the benefit of clients, nature and the public.
- Climate change and biodiversity loss are inter-connected crises and need to be tackled together urgently. Biodiversity supports all living organisms and a variety of habitats delivering crucial ecosystem services for human society and nature. The current scientific baseline for biodiversity in the UK and globally shows significant decline, which intensifies the climate emergency by hindering nature’s ability to regulate emissions, adapt to changing climate patterns and withstand extreme climate events. We advocate practices that place restoring biodiversity and nature-positive solutions at the heart of the global climate agenda. We want soils, water, air, habitats and ecosystems to be recognised as vital reservoirs, ensuring that carbon and other GHGs are stored for the long-term, and that nature can adapt to changing climate.
- Healthy, dynamic and resilient natural systems provide a wealth of ecosystem services including air and water quality, soils, food and access to nature. The LI champions Green Blue Infrastructure (GBI) – the strategic network of natural and semi-natural areas that deliver multiple, integrated benefits to nature and people. We are also working to influence government policy to improve water management, including promoting sponge cities and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to reduce flood risk, control runoff, and improve water quality – increasingly critical functions in an era of unpredictable extreme weather.
IFLA is representing landscape professionals at COP30. Its position statement, “Putting Landscape at the Heart of Climate Action”, asserts that landscape must come first for a viable climate and biodiversity future. IFLA calls on global leaders to focus on three actions: Integrate Landscape as Critical Infrastructure, Empower Integrators and Indigenous Knowledge, and Finance the Foundation by investing in healthy, cost-effective landscape solutions.
Land, air and water are strategic climate resources. For COP30 to succeed, the world must accelerate the implementation of measures that halt climate change and reverse the loss of critical natural systems. Collaboration, collective responsibilities and partnership-working, at local, regional and global levels, will be crucial. At the LI, we want to ensure the landscape sector plays its part in delivering this agenda – for the benefit of people, place and nature globally.
