The month in review – June 2026

The Secretariat team has been out and about for London Climate Action Week, attending, chairing and organising a wide range of events.

Yesterday, as part of London Climate Action Week, Aldersgate Group held our UK Business Leaders’ Summit alongside the Corporate Leaders Group. The programme included a high-level business leaders’ panel examining the opportunities and challenges of delivering the UK’s net zero transition, with keynotes from Climate Minister Katie White MP and Professor Emily Shuckburgh. Discussions from the day will contribute to a business-informed statement that will go out ahead of the government’s ‘state of climate and nature’ moment in July.

We were pleased to welcome members to our Q2 Members’ Meeting, where we were joined by Dr Simon Evans, Deputy Editor and Senior Policy Editor at Carbon Brief, and Dr Ellie Chowns MP, Green Party parliamentary leader and spokesperson for Business and Trade, for discussions how climate and energy stories get reported and on where the common ground is for business and the green movement.

We were grateful to Climate Change Committee officials for presenting to members at a webinar on their recent report A Well-Adapted UK. The session provided members with an opportunity to engage with the CCC’s latest analysis, discuss its recommendations, and explore the implications for business. Aldersgate Group also hosted a webinar with the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) to mark the launch of Placing Nature on the Board Agenda, a joint report highlighting the importance of nature to business longevity.

Meanwhile, given recent political events, the Aldersgate Group will be monitoring the forthcoming Prime Ministerial contest closely given its significant implications for climate and nature policy in the UK, and will update members on any relevant insights.

The Secretariat is delighted to welcome a new External Affairs Officer, Tom Kelly. You may have seen Tom at our Q2 Members’ Meeting, and he looks forward to meeting other members soon.

In the past month, Aldersgate Group has:

Business case for climate action

We met senior officials from DESNZ’s Net Zero Strategy team to discuss key policy priorities, including delivery of Carbon Budget 7, the future of the ZEV Mandate, and the government’s approach to business engagement on net zero policy including the role of the Net Zero Council.

Aldersgate Group published a response to the UK’s Seventh Carbon Budget, which was laid before Parliament during June, highlighting it as a major step forward in the UK’s plans to meet its net zero commitments.

In addition, Rachel joined the most recent meeting of the Net Zero Council. The discussion centred on how recent geopolitical instability, particularly in the Middle East, reinforces rather than weakens the strategic case for net zero.

Net Zero and Nature Positive case studies

We are drafting local case studies of where national policies relating to net zero and nature restoration have helped to revive local economies and restore communities.

These case studies will offer bold, evidence-based demonstrations of how the climate and nature transition is benefitting people, communities, and businesses across the country now and changing the UK for the better. We hope they will allow us to build a story we can use to raise awareness, stimulate engagement and secure support from policy makers.

Water

This month the policy team convened a roundtable with Defra’s team leading the Water Legislative Reform. This meeting was arranged with the purpose of expressing the concerns of our business members at the lack of commitment to a systematic, cross-economy strategy for water reform, laying the groundwork for the recommendations in our upcoming report. Members were persuasive in sharing their experience of water risks and barriers to mitigation and investment.

A draft of our upcoming policy paper calling for a National Water Strategy for 2035, making the business case for radical reforms to the water system, has concluded our member review. This paper has been developed in consultation with Aldersgate Group members and external stakeholder organisations.

Enabling private sector action on nature

Rachel and Adam attended an Aldersgate Group co-branded event with the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London on 11 June, “Nature Positive Futures: Connecting Research, Policy and Business”. The event was a great opportunity to meet some Aldersgate Group members in person and other stakeholders in the nature policy space.

If you attended and would like to follow up to discuss your experience or views on the event, please get in touch with Adam Young.

On 15 June, Aldersgate Group along with its partner the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) hosted a webinar to mark the launch of Placing Nature on the Board Agenda. This guide supports efforts to incorporate nature into business strategy and warns that environmental degradation poses material risks to business resilience, financial performance and long-term value creation. It calls on companies across all sectors to act now, embedding environmental considerations into decision-making to safeguard both economic and societal prosperity.

Planning

The policy team has been in early-stage discussions with several members and external stakeholders looking forward at BNG, the NRF’s implementation and the nature/planning discourse broadly. We are scoping out some follow up work to our briefing on the Nature Restoration Fund published in December, and our response to the NPPF.

If you have views on the direction of travel in nature positive planning and development, please get in touch with Adam Young to discuss them.

Green Finance

Rachel chaired an event organised by Triodos and the New Economics Foundation at Somerset House. ‘A System that Serves’ brought together leading voices from finance, policy and sustainability to ask what a system designed around people and planet could actually look like. This built on Triodos’s recent report on the topic.

Energy

The Aldersgate Group joined a coalition of businesses and organisations calling on the Prime Minister to develop a UK Electrification Strategy. The letter highlighted that electrification has a key role in strengthening energy security, lowering bills, boosting competitiveness and attracting investment. The campaign received national media coverage, including an article in the i newspaper.

Beth joined a roundtable convened by CPRE to discuss how the UK can accelerate delivery of clean power infrastructure while minimising environmental impacts and maintaining support from rural communities. The discussion brought together organisations including the National Farmers’ Union, Octopus Energy, Solar UK, the UK Warehousing Association, ADE Demand, E3G and the Better Planning Coalition. The session formed part of CPRE’s 100th anniversary programme and explored practical approaches to balancing solar deployment with nature, landscape and community priorities.

Transport

Aldersgate Group signed a coalition letter urging the Government not to weaken the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate. The letter highlighted the importance of policy certainty for investors and manufacturers, the role of transport electrification in strengthening UK energy security, and the need for complementary measures to support industry through the transition. The letter was covered by Sky News here.

We are developing a policy brief setting out recommendations for a comprehensive package of policies to enable the decarbonisation of HGVs. We recognise the need for a clear strategy that defines the roles of low-carbon fuels, enabling infrastructure, and policy levers to drive both manufacturer and operator investment. If you are interested in contributing or sharing your views, please contact Rachel Solomon Williams.

Industrial Strategy

Aldersgate Group convened and chaired a roundtable on decarbonising the creative industries. We hosted representatives from TV and film production, music and live events, advertising and the creative industries policy community to explore their decarbonisation challenges and priorities and discuss potential policy solutions.

This roundtable marks the start of a wider project on decarbonising the creative industries which will culminate in a recommendations report and advocacy programme. If you would like to hear more about this project or be involved, please contact Toby Radcliffe.

Skills

As part of London Climate Action Week, The Crown Estate, supported by the Aldersgate Group, convened a small group of senior business leaders for a breakfast roundtable to explore the future of the UK’s workforce and help to stress-test emerging insights from TCE’s system-level work on the UK skills and workforce ecosystem. The discussion focused on the need for a future-fit and inclusive workforce skills system in the age of AI and automation. It offered an early view of a comprehensive system map and created space for an open conversation about where the current system is, and is not, working for business, as well as the role organisations can play in shaping a more resilient and future-ready workforce.

Circular Economy

Beth attended a workshop on accelerating circular construction products, convened by Aldersgate Group member Bioregional. The session brought together stakeholders to identify where activity is already under way, where gaps remain, and where greater collaboration could accelerate progress.

Discussions focused on developing a small number of high-impact actions with the potential to scale circularity across the construction sector, including practical guidance for implementing circular approaches in projects, support for the adoption of Part Z, and actions for local authorities to improve access to storage and reuse infrastructure. Aldersgate Group will continue to work with partners in this area, including advocating for the publication of the Circular Economy Growth Plan. Members interested in discussing this work are encouraged to contact Beth Barker.

Climate adaptation

We hosted a member webinar with the Climate Change Committee (CCC) to explore the findings of the Well-Adapted UK report, the CCC’s latest independent assessment of UK climate risk. CCC representatives presented the report’s key findings, with a particular focus on implications for business and finance. The session highlighted the opportunity presented by the next National Adaptation Programme, due to be published in 2028, and the role businesses can play in shaping future policy. The Aldersgate Group intends to undertake further work on climate adaptation and resilience. Members interested in receiving the webinar summary, CCC presentation slides, or discussing this area of work are encouraged to contact Beth Barker.