Fwd: Britain’s paved gardens are a problem

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THE major cause of increased urban flooding in England

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Gardens are a quintessential part of British life. But homeowners are increasingly choosing to pave over their greenery for the sake of convenience or more parking space.

Today’s newsletter looks at why the trend is a problem as the country battles more flooding. Plus, we delve into plans to build Europe’s biggest direct air capture facility.

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Too much concrete

By Olivia Rudgard

As the UK moves from a record-hot May into an unseasonably wet June, the risk of flooding is being exacerbated by a proliferation of paved gardens, according to the country’s flood insurer of last resort.

The trend — often a quick fix to create space to park cars or to make garden maintenance easier — is emerging as a major factor in predicting how badly floods will affect homes. The more asphalt and the less spongy vegetation and natural ground, the bigger the risk.

Homes surrounded by floodwater in Wraysbury, west of London, in 2024.

The conventional wisdom is that “lower maintenance is better,” says Kelly Ostler-Coyle, director of corporate affairs at Flood Re, which has served as a backstop for Britain’s commercial insurers since 2016.

But with Britons increasingly paving their outdoor spaces, “you’re finding that places that have never flooded before are now experiencing low level surface water flooding,” she said.

To drive home its point, Flood Re last month sponsored a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, which is the absolute high-point of Britain’s horticultural calendar and regularly attended by Britain’s royals.

As a model for the ideal UK garden in a small space, Flood Re displayed a Mediterranean-style courtyard planted with wood ferns well-suited to moist, shady spots. It also included tree species such as the Persian ironwood and the yew, as part of a theme focused on planting for a hotter climate with more turbulent weather patterns.

Flood Re’s garden at the Chelsea Flower Show demonstrated ways to prevent surface water flooding.

Gardens make up almost 5% of Britain’s total land area, rising to 41% of land in London, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, a charity. But instead of teeming with vegetation, a growing number are full of concrete and paving slabs.

In England, the Climate Change Committee estimates that the total area defined as permeable enough to absorb rain fell by about 173,000 acres between 2001 and 2022; that’s roughly equivalent to the size of Singapore. In cities across the UK, permeable land fell from 63% to 54% over the two decades through 2022.

As Britain loses much of its natural sponginess, climate change has made sudden downpours both more frequent and more intense. Every extra 1C (1.8F) of heat adds an estimated 7% of additional moisture to the atmosphere, which scientists say is contributing to heavier summer downpours.

Meanwhile, Britain is warming faster than the global average. And “surface-water flooding is the fastest-growing climate risk at the moment,” says Ostler-Coyle.

With more homes in danger of flooding, insurers are increasingly passing the risk on to Flood Re, which warns that the vulnerability of homes will increase with climate change. That, in turn, will raise the burden on the wider public, whose insurance premiums fund Flood Re.

“Increased paving over green spaces is intensifying the risk of surface water flooding,” said Laura Hughes, head of general insurance policy at the Association of British Insurers. “To tackle this, prevention must come first. Permeable paving and green spaces can soak up surface water, easing the strain on drains and reducing the likelihood of flooding.”

Green spaces

41%

How much land in London is dedicated to gardens, according to the Royal Horticultural Society.

Smarter design

“You can have a beautiful, peaceful, easy to maintain garden that’s also filled with aspects that can help slow water down, contain water, capture it.”

Kelly Ostler-Coyle

Director of corporate affairs at Flood Re

Carbon removal ambitions

By Alastair Marsh

Three UK clean-technology companies are teaming up to create what may be Europe’s biggest direct air capture facility.

Low-carbon project developer Progressive Energy, together with carbon-capture specialists Airhive and Mission Zero Technologies, has formed a new company to build a plant in northeast England capable of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. UnionDAC, as the venture is known, aims to begin sequestering CO2 in 2030 and, by 2032, capture 60,000 tons annually.

Mission Zero’s direct-air-capture facility in Norfolk, UK.

UnionDAC’s plant, if it reaches its target, would overtake Climeworks AG’s Mammoth project in Iceland as Europe’s largest direct air capture facility. Mammoth can take in 36,000 tons at full capacity.

While removing billions of tons of carbon dioxide will be essential to avoid catastrophic levels of warming, global carbon-removal capacity remains far below what scientists say is needed. The UK, with abundant geological storage beneath the North Sea and a government committed to net zero, is viewed by some as a natural place for technologies such as direct air capture.

The new facility on Teesside, almost 40 miles south of Newcastle, will demonstrate that direct air capture can be deployed commercially and replicated elsewhere, said John Egan, project director for industrial decarbonization at Progressive Energy.

“We want the UK to really grab all bits of that and be the world leader through this project,” he said in an interview.

Airhive’s direct-air-capture facility in Alberta, Canada. Source:&nbsp;Airhive — Airhive’s direct-air-capture facility in Alberta, Canada.

DAC uses chemical processes to remove CO2 directly from the air and then inject it deep underground into depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers, where it is intended to remain permanently. Airhive deploys so-called fluidized-bed technology, while Mission Zero uses an electrochemical process to capture carbon.

Both companies will install their modules on Teesside, and UnionDAC plans to connect to the carbon capture and storage infrastructure of the Northern Endurance Partnership. That network will transport the captured CO2 through pipelines to permanent storage sites deep beneath the seabed.

Progressive Energy, Airhive and Mission Zero will all be shareholders in UnionDAC. The company intends to raise about £100 million ($134 million) to develop the plant. Through sequestration of CO2, the company also intends to generate carbon-removal credits that can be sold to external buyers.

Nicholas Chadwick, chief executive officer of Mission Zero, said the UK can “champion a playbook for economic growth, coupled with decarbonization.” UnionDAC exemplifies “what the next chapter of that looks like for the 2030s by bringing together bankable DAC technologies in a landmark endeavor,” he said, adding the plant should produce 50,000 carbon-removal credits per year.

Zero

Ben Cohen Regrets Making Ben & Jerry’s Public

Ben & Jerry’s isn’t just known for ice cream, but also its support for social causes. With over $1 billion in sales last year, it’s an asset for its owner Magnum. So why has one of its founders quit, and the other launched a campaign to make Ben & Jerry’s independent?

Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi sits down with co-founder Ben Cohen to ask about the Free Ben & Jerry’s campaign, why businesses should pursue social causes, and the future of ice cream on a warming planet.

Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday.