Last week, the world’s leading politicians, top policy wonks and the most decorated climate scientists are gathering in Katowice in Poland for COP24, the UN’s climate change conference. As with most of the climate change conferences in recent history, the backdrop is grim.

The latest special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set out in clear terms what is required from society to keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees, avoiding the disastrous impacts that we would see at just 2 degrees of warming. A 50% reduction in carbon emissions is needed by 2030 and reaching net-zero by mid-century. The current pledges of national governments see us land somewhere between 3 and 5 degrees of warming by 2100.

To coincide with the start of COP24, the Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, has announced a consultation on mandating a “biodiversity net gain” in the development process. Such a law would require developers to assess the impacts and implications of their development on local ecosystems, ensuring that biodiversity stands to gain from any development, rather than suffer. In the words of Mr Gove, he believes that his government’s “commitment to protecting and enhancing our natural world can go hand in hand with our ambition to build more high quality homes.”

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