BIG I N T E RVI E W C li m ate S e ns e
Doogie chairing the EBRD Conference Bishkek
CLIMATE SENSE resiliencetoclimatechange.com climatesense.global
Development, and CEN/CENELEC, the European standards organisations. Doogie, meanwhile, the Principal UK Expert in the writing of ISO14090, has been appointed by the European Commission to write guidance on how to embed adaptation to climate change within new and existing European Infrastructure Standards (through CEN-CENELEC), and by the German Environment Agency to research and make recommendations on best practice in standardisation across Europe. The Climate Sense team as a whole continues to promote, educate and encourage in relation to the responsibility of organisations to do the right thing. “In the UK as far back as 2006, the Stern review of the economics of climate change showed that it was much more costeffective to act on adaptation sooner rather than later,” said Doogie. “A lot of decisions we make today have ramifications that will last well into the future. “Take the built environment. A bridge or dam or school or hospital might have a design life of 40
30
years, but it will probably sit there for well over a 100 years and yet planning permission is still being given for building to take place on flood plains without any consideration for the flooding of the future. “Organisations and institutions are starting to recognise that they need to make better decisions today if they and the outcomes of what they do are to survive.” This month, Climate Sense added a new weapon to its arsenal in the form of an NVQ course entitled Adaptation to Climate Change. Developed and rolled out in partnership with L&DA, well-established providers of education, qualifications and assessment of competence in the water industry, the course is designed to teach people how to build resilience and sustainability in an organisation. Participants learn how to measure and develop the adaptive capacity of their organisation, their people and their systems and how to ensure adaptation to climate change is embedded in decision-making processes in the most constructive way.
