The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched a consultation seeking industry feedback on its draft Nature-Positive Framework Definition for the built environment sector. The consultation aims to establish consensus on the meaning of nature-positivity in this context and to identify specific principles and actions organisations can implement to support the industry in addressing biodiversity loss and improving the natural environment. To inform the development of the Framework, UKGBC established an Industry Task Group and is conducting stakeholder meetings, expert interviews, and workshops, which will run until June 2025. The consultation closes on 12 June 2025.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched the Framework for a Nature Positive Built Environment, developed with an expert Task Group of 33 organisations and informed by wider industry consultation, to provide a clear and consistent approach for the sector to halt and reverse nature loss. The Framework responds to increasing urgency, including the UK government’s identification of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation as national security risks. It addresses the lack of a shared, sector-specific definition of ‘nature positive’, which has led to fragmented action, by setting out a common definition and practical pathways aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework and related standards. It positions nature as integral to resilience, economic stability and long-term asset performance, recognising ecosystems as critical infrastructure that mitigate environmental and supply chain risks.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched a second consultation on the Climate Resilience Roadmap, aimed at assisting the built environment in adapting to climate change. The consultation document outlines five key policy recommendations, including prioritising climate safety at a national level under the Prime Minister's leadership, reforming the planning system, and ensuring existing and new buildings are prepared for future climate hazards. The consultation also seeks feedback on updated proposals from the UKGBC’s July 2024 consultation, with the aim of refining the roadmap before its final publication. The final roadmap, scheduled for publication in March 2025, will comprise a policy recommendations report, technical guidance, and an interactive 'vulnerability to climate hazards' web map. The consultation closes on 6 January 2025.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has provided guidance on addressing operational carbon emissions in buildings, explaining the causes of these emissions and outlining strategies for their reduction. For existing homes, they recommend improving insulation, transitioning to electric heating, and using renewable energy sources. For non-domestic buildings, recommendations include moving away from fossil fuel heating, setting building performance targets, and adopting on-site renewables. For new buildings, the UKGBC advises prioritising energy efficiency in design and focusing on electricity-based systems. In addition, the UKGBC is conducting an Operational Optimisation Labs project to explore methods for optimising commercial buildings to reduce operational carbon emissions, as opposed to undertaking deep retrofits. The UKGBC intends to release the final outcomes of this project in spring 2025.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), in collaboration with Breakthrough Energy and FORE Partnership, has published a report, 'Innovation in Commercial Retrofit: A Live Project Demonstrator', detailing the application of the Commercial Retrofit Innovation Map at No. 1 Poultry. The report examines how innovation can be incorporated at an early stage of commercial retrofit projects to support sustainability objectives through the use of the Innovation Map and a structured innovation process. It outlines an approach for assessing and adopting innovative technologies when decisions have the greatest influence on carbon outcomes, cost and performance. The report also identifies barriers to the adoption of innovative low-carbon solutions, including limited awareness, perceived risk, fragmented decision-making, cost pressures and a lack of evidence from live projects. The report is intended to accelerate the adoption of innovative low-carbon solutions across the commercial real estate sector.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a Whole Life Carbon (WLC) Framework to help the built environment sector reduce and manage carbon emissions across the life cycle of buildings and support net zero aligned projects. The framework provides guidance on reducing whole life carbon emissions, including emissions from material extraction, construction, building use, demolition and disposal. It also aims to improve accountability, carbon assessment and disclosure across projects and property portfolios.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has submitted its response to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consultation on the Land Use Framework, which aims to establish England's first strategic approach to land use. The response advocates for mandatory urban greening targets in local plans, including the implementation of a 3:30:300 goal for urban green spaces, integration of blue-green infrastructure, and expansion of urban food growing spaces. UKGBC cites Natural England data showing parks and greenspaces deliver £6.6bn in annual benefits across health, climate and environmental outcomes.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has announced its task group and partners for the climate resilience roadmap which seeks to develop the UK's shared pathway for adapting to climate change. The roadmap is said to establish 'urgent priorities, industry wide-targets, and clear metrics' to protect the built environment from the impacts of climate related risks. The project was welcomed by a range of industry leaders in October 2023 and partners have joined as members of either a Steering Group or a Task Group. The UKGBC will also welcome additional consultation from the wider industry and further information on the methodology of the roadmap process will be published in due course.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued guidance on infection prevention and control for multidrug-resistant organisms in adult social care settings. The guidance document is aimed at staff and managers across various care settings—including care homes for older adults, homes for younger adults with learning disabilities, day centres, extra care services, supported living, and domiciliary care services. It defines multidrug-resistant organisms as pathogens that do not respond to conventional treatments such as antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, rendering them difficult to treat. The guidance recommends that individuals with current or previous multidrug-resistant organism carriage should generally be admitted or readmitted to care settings, provided that strict infection prevention and control practices are observed to mitigate transmission risks.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published its Health Protection report, which presents comprehensive data on disparities in health protection across the United Kingdom. The report examines disparities across deprivation levels, ethnic groups and geographical regions, finding that emergency hospital admission rates for infectious diseases are nearly twice as high in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived. Additionally, the north west region of England is identified as bearing the greatest burden, with admission rates significantly higher than the national average. The analysis estimates that these inequalities cost the NHS between £970m-£1.5bn annually. The report aims to establish baseline data on health protection inequalities to inform future policy interventions, while acknowledging that more research is needed to understand the underlying causes.

UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) has analysed the findings from its research conducted with the UK charity, the Roma Support Group, on the issues that Central and Eastern European Roma citizens in the UK encounter in relation to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). The key issues include persons struggling to upgrade from pre-settled status to settled status, Roma joining family members refraining from seeking medical treatment due to fear of incurring charges, a lack of knowledge of the EUSS, and issues with providing evidence of settled status due to glitches in the system or limited knowledge on navigating an online-only process. UKICE considers the broader lessons that can be used for the new government’s policies towards resident migrants in the UK, such as increasing funding for immigration support and ensuring resident migrants are provided with a physical or easily accessible digital form of ID.

UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) has published an analysis by John Mahon urging the UK to improve its understanding of the fiscal and policy implications of emigration. Mahon notes that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has recently revised its methodology for tracking emigration using National Insurance-linked databases. It now estimates that around 250,000 British nationals emigrate annually while 150,000 return. This is higher than previous estimates, which were based on the International Passenger Survey and suggested approximately 160,000 emigrants and 80,000 returnees.