Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JULY 2022 | 37 Show sponsor N ational Infrastructure Commission (NIC) chief executive James Heath told Utility Week Live 2022 that simply building more was an unrealistic solution to climate challenges. Outlining how the utilities industry should address adaptation and resilience challenges, Heath stressed that new and basic infrastructure urgently needed to be made climate resilient so that future prob- lems aren't "locked in" to assets that will still be around in 2050. "How will we retro† t, how much will it cost and how much cost are we willing to bear?" he asked, adding that the sector must be willing to integrate adaptation into forth- coming policies, take opportunities to embed it in all aspects of their work, and embrace nature-based solutions. Ultimately, he said, it was neither pos- sible nor desirable to avoid all climate risks – so, for instance, while around 300,000km of overhead electricity cables will become more vulnerable in years to come, it would be prohibitively expensive to put them underground. "The idea that we're going to build our way out of climate change doesn't seem real- istic," he said. High priority Founded in 2015 as an executive agency of the Treasury, the NIC conducts a national infrastructure assessment which is pub- lished every † ve years. Currently "knee deep" in analysis for the next iteration, Heath classed adaptation and resilience alongside economic growth, levelling up and net zero as policy priorities. "It shouldn't be a surprise that adaptation and resilience are very high up our policy agenda," he told Utility Week Live in the con- 'We can't build our way out of climate change' Save the date! Utility Week Live 2023 will take place on 16 and 17 May 2023 at the NEC in Birmingham. ference's opening keynote session. Heath explained that meaningful adap- tation action was assuming increased sig- ni† cance in conversations around climate change given that its e' ects were already being felt. Despite this, he said evidence from the Climate Change Committee suggests that UK adaptation and resilience activity isn't advancing quickly enough. While the government has been "broadly positive" about the NIC's work on resilience thus far, it has avoided † rm adoption and was yet to bake recommendations into policy practice – something Heath deemed crucial. "The resilience of our networks to climate change will become increasingly important as we electrify massive parts of our economy and society," he said. Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate Delivering Net Zero

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