Sector-specific forums and resources

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK water sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Become a member of Water UK

• WaterUK is a membership organisation which represents all major statutory water and wastewater service providers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They engage with companies and regulators to ensure customers receive high quality tap water at a reasonable price and that our environment is protected and improved.
• They work on a number of climate initiatives including biodiversity. For example, associated water companies are actively working on protection/recovery of key species, more widely, particularly those associated with water.

Join Future Water Association

• Future Water Association is a not-for-profit organisation, governed by a Management Committee made up by members, all of whom have years of experience within the water sector and a vision to shape the future of water. Their strategic vision includes supporting sustainability objectives.

Get involved in the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)

• CIWEM is the leading chartered professional body dedicated to sustainable management of the environment, globally. They aim to build a global community of water and environmental professionals dedicated to working for the public benefit.

Engage with Blueprint for Water

• Blueprint for Water is a coalition of 24 organisations working to develop solutions to the water issues facing England. These issues are categorised as: use water wisely, protect and restore wildlife, manage floods, stop pollution and join up water management. Their website contains links to member NGOs whose websites will have additional resources and information.

Use the Routemap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction

• The Routemap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction aims to catalyse actions by all parts of the supply chain to reduce and ultimately eliminate all avoidable waste, including considering the impact on water and biodiversity.
• This helps to mitigate the biodiversity issues of overexploitation, pollution and climate change.

Get certified with the Wildlife Trusts Biodiversity Benchmark

• The Wildlife Trusts’ Biodiversity Benchmark is the only standard that certifies management of your business landholdings for wildlife.
• Performance indicators can include both water quality and water levels on-site.

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK tourism sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Join the Global Sustainable Tourism Council

• The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) establishes and manages standards for sustainable travel and tourism, known as the GSTC Criteria. There are industry criteria for hotels and tour operators (as well as criteria for destinations), which serve as the basis for sustainability certification through partner certification bodies.
• The pillar for environmental impacts includes: reducing pollution, conserving resources, conserving biodiversity, and harvesting and trade. The other pillars are for managing social, cultural, and community sustainability.

Sign up to Tourism Declares

• The Tourism Declares coalition, a global community of organisations, has declared a climate emergency and is working together to plan a better future for tourism.Their support is particularly useful for small businesses that don’t have the funds available to dig into their supply chain.

The Travel Foundation

• They are a leading international sustainable tourism organisation dedicated to ensuring that tourism has a positive impact on destination communities. They work with governments, community groups and tourism businesses for fairer, climate-positive tourism.
• They create a better future for tourism destinations, accelerating change towards a more balanced tourism model through advocacy, training, demonstrating good practice, and enabling collaboration between the many tourism stakeholders.

Read the Global Hotel Decarbonisation Report

• Launched by the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, this report will help hospitality companies understand the scale of the action required, the importance of setting science-based targets, and the opportunities already available to make significant carbon reductions.

Use the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative

• The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance offers the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) as a free tool that enables a hotel property to calculate the carbon footprint of hotels stays and meetings to manage their impact and assist with reporting and reduction.

Reduce food waste with Guardians of Grub

• Guardians of Grub is a campaign developed by Wrap, a united collective from across the hospitality and food service sectors. Their aims are to reduce food waste, defend profits and protect the planet. They have free resources to support their efforts in reducing food waste and these are good tools for education across the sector.

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK fashion sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Join The Fashion Pact

• The Fashion Pact is a global coalition of companies in the fashion and textile industry (ready-to-wear, sport, lifestyle and luxury) including their suppliers and distributors, all committed to a common core of key environmental goals in three areas: stopping global warming, restoring biodiversity and protecting the oceans.

Sign up to Fashion Declares

• As a bottom-up movement, Fashion Declares will create a network of individuals from right across the sector. Fashion Declares invites you to join the movement by signing their open letter now!

Engage with the British Fashion Council

Become a member of Textiles 2030

• Textiles 2030 is a voluntary agreement, to be funded by its signatories and government. Signatories will collaborate on carbon, water and circular textile targets, and also contribute to national policy discussions with UK governments to shape Extended Producer Responsibility and other critical regulatory developments. Join Textiles 2030 to be at the forefront of building back greener, influencing policy, increasing customer loyalty, and satisfying your investors.
• Interested in taking part? Email them to get started.

Engage in Textile Exchange Biodiversity Benchmark

• The Biodiversity Benchmark helps companies understand the impacts and dependencies on nature of their raw materials sourcing strategies. The Biodiversity Benchmark is aligned with the Science Based Targets for Nature and wider initiatives through collaboration with Conservation International, The Biodiversity Consultancy, and other leading organisations.

Use Common Objective’s Biodiversity Hub

• Resources, tools, intelligence, and organisations to support fashion businesses transform their relationship with biodiversity and nature. Supported by Kering. 
• Find out more here. 

Read Textile Exchange’s 2021 Biodiversity Insights Report

• This is the first global baseline of the apparel and textile industry, highlighting the current status on biodiversity action as a sector, with an indication of where to go next.
• Read the report here.

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK buildings & infrastructure sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Engage with the Environmental Industries Commission

• They represent the companies, large and small, working in the environmental technologies and services sector. The Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) champions new environmental markets to Government and other stakeholders, representing the views of around 70 members. How do we deliver a prosperous built environment while restoring biodiversity and providing access to nature and green spaces?

Association of Consultancy and Engineering

• The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) champions infrastructure and the built environment to government and other stakeholders, representing the views of around 400 members. Their mission is for a political, economic and commercial environment that enables the consultancy and engineering businesses to thrive and make the world a better place.

Become a Business Champion for CO2structZero

• The Construction Leadership Council’s CO2nstructZero builds on the government’s commitments through a construction industry lens, setting out how the net zero challenge can be jointly achieved. It uses the CCC’s 6th Carbon Budget to establish the priorities that will frame its action plan and how to measure and hold the sector to account.

Sign up to Construction Declares

• Construction Declares has individual groups for different industry subgroups: Architects, Building Service Engineers, Civil Engineers, Contractors, Interior Design, Landscape Architects, Project Managers, Structural Engineers and Students. Signatories are working on several initiatives to raise awareness and instigate change across industry, to meet UN and UK targets.

Sign up to the World GBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

• The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment challenges business, organisations, cities, states, and regions to reach net zero carbon in operation for all assets under their direct control by 2030, and to advocate for all buildings to be net zero carbon in operation by 2050.

Sign up to the BIG Biodiversity Challenge

• The BIG Biodiversity Challenge to ‘do one thing’ invites the construction industry to add at least one new biodiversity enhancement to construction sites, developments or existing buildings. The biodiversity enhancement can be a simple intervention or more complex multiple interventions. Examples of these include bird or bat boxes, insect habitat creation, wildflower meadows or wetland restoration.

The Wildlife Trusts Biodiversity Benchmark

• The Wildlife Trusts’ (TWT) Biodiversity Benchmark is designed to complement ISO14001 and tests the design and implementation of a business’s management systems to achieve continual biodiversity enhancement and protection on their landholdings. Over 8,700ha of land on 53 sites have met the standard.

Use the National Model Design Code

• The National Model Design Code provides detailed guidance on the production of design codes, guides and policies to promote successful design.
• It expands on the ten characteristics of good design set out in the National Design Guide, which reflects the government’s priorities and provides a common overarching framework for design.

Use the Roadmap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction

• The Routemap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction has been prepared by the Green Construction Board (GCB), supported by Defra and BEIS, to catalyse actions by all parts of the supply chain to reduce and ultimately eliminate all avoidable waste. It identifies actions that everyone involved in the construction sector – both public and private – can take to help deliver a lower carbon, more efficient industry. 

Refer to Major Projects Association Sustainability Resources    

Build UK

• Build UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK construction industry. By bringing together Clients, Main Contractors, Trade Associations representing over 11,500 Specialist Contractors and other organisations committed to industry collaboration, Build UK represents in excess of 40% of UK construction.
• Build UK focuses on three key industry priorities that can deliver change and enable the construction supply chain to improve the efficiency and delivery of construction projects for the benefit of the UK economy.

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK food retail sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Support the UK Food Waste Reduction roadmap

• The UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap has been developed by WRAP and IGD to tackle food waste in the UK. The Roadmap, which sets out how to deliver on UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, is accompanied by a Toolkit providing a range of guidance and templates to help businesses to Target, Measure and Act on food waste.
• Retailers are encouraged to publish their food surplus and waste data on an annual basis in line with Roadmap best practice.

Sign the UK Plastics Pact

• The UK Plastic Pact brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with the UK government and NGOs to tackle the scourge of plastic waste. Led by WRAP – the not-for-profit that encourages sustainable resource use through product design, waste minimisation, re-use, recycling, and reprocessing of waste materials – it is the first of a global network of Pacts enabled by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastic Economy initiative.

Become a signatory of the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Action Roadmap.

• Email [email protected] to learn more and get involved.

Use WWF’s Basket

• The WWF Basket can help food companies have a responsibility to help fix the food system. Change needs to happen across the food production chain, from field to plate. WWF have set out an approach to identify the most pressing issues in the food system and what needs to be done to address them.
• Initially developed with our partner Tesco, WWF is now working together with UK retailers who share WWF’s vision and achieve our ambitious aim to halve the environmental impact of UK baskets by 2030.
• The WWF Basket is a set of Outcomes and Measures to track progress, and a Blueprint for Action, laying out the priority actions which WWF-UK believes UK Food Retailers should take to tackle the climate and nature crises. Retailers may take other actions to achieve the targets, but in signing up to the overall ambition it is expected that they will take action. Retailers will be asked to supply information on their actions so WWF can measure progress against the ambition to halve the environment impact of UK Baskets.

These are a collection of suggested resources from across the UK environmental services sector. If you wish to add a resource to this list, please email [email protected]. 

Join the Environmental Services Association

• The Environmental Services Association (ESA) is the trade body representing the UK’s resource and waste management industry. While people talk about the circular economy, our members are helping to bring it about every day.

Join the UK Plastics Pact

• The UK Plastics Pact, led by WRAP with co-funding from DEFRA, is the first of a global network of Pacts enabled by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative. The UK Plastics Pact brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with the UK government and NGOs to tackle plastic waste.
• Its aim is to minimise the plastics we use and create a truly circular economy for necessary plastics, capturing their value by keeping them in the economy and out of the natural environment.

For a list of financing opportunities, please click here.