As a central government department, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is mandated to support the delivery of the government’s sustainability objectives and contribute towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our research lead Amy Binner joined this panel discussion to talk about how our work to harness technology to gather information, and use that information to inform land use decision making is being explored by the MoD. We are working together to develop decision support tools that will provide information on the potential performance of the MoD estate in terms of carbon emissions – through peatland restoration and woodland planting –  and biodiversity over time.

Amy describes finding it “an inspiring approach that MoD are so involved and keen to look at the evidence and feed into their decision making. How can we take the science, the projections and the uncertainty and feed that into business cases? How can we feed that into sustainability, not just for carbon, but for the provision of habitats for biodiversity and water quality changes running off estates..”

The Panellists included:

Jamie Millar: RAF

Paul Beatty: MoD, Navy

Dr Amy Binner: University of Exeter

Jon Cole: BT Group

Listen again to this talk to hear how the UK defence system is working to reach a more sustainable future.