At its April meeting, the ICE Council heard more about our carbon management plan, discussed State of the Nation recommendations and received a presentation from the trustee responsible for finance, assurance and risk.
There was a full agenda for the latest council meeting, including consideration of the role of council and the election of the 2026/27 trustee board.
Decarbonisation programme update
The trustee for carbon and climate and the ICE climate knowledge lead provided an update on the ICE’s decarbonisation activities. In particular, they highlighted the critical importance of the net zero journey and the central role that civil and infrastructure engineers have in addressing it.
In 2025, the focus was on scaling engagement to embed key standards, PAS 2080 and Flex 350. This included:
- 23 carbon competency roadshows across the UK, attended by over 2,000 people
- The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) Whole Life Carbon Management Handbook (published March 2026) recommends PAS2080 as a framework for low carbon management across projects
- Decarbonisation Community Forum events attracted over 400 people
- The ICE and IStructE held a number of roundtables on the ethical dilemmas relating to climate and carbon decisions
The aim in 2026 is to build on this and strengthen adoption of PAS 2080 by shifting from theory to practical delivery though cross-sector case studies, while also continuing to discuss the central role decarbonisation should play in infrastructure delivery.
The forum events are public, and anyone is welcome to attend. The next event is on 10 June.
State of the Nation
The UK’s 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy is ambitious, and this year’s State of the Nation examined the UK’s readiness to deliver the strategy.
We discussed the role of the ICE in providing an honest assessment of policymakers’ proposals (and challenging them when necessary), such as the ICE recommendation to ring fence road user charging for maintenance.
It was agreed that while there have been a number of positive developments, the ICE needs to continue to push for better outcomes and be realistic about the challenges facing the sector, such as supply chain disruption, skill shortage and engineering capabilities.
The council collectively echoed the report’s call for a greater focus on asset maintenance and renewal.
Finance, Assurance and Risk Committee (FARC)
In the second of a series of presentations from trustees on their portfolios and committee activities, the trustee for FARC provided council with an update.
The committee has responsibility for reviewing the ICE’s finances and ensuring that our activities are funded in a sustainable way. This includes regularly reviewing the ICE reserves policy to ensure it is in line with best practice.
Last year, FARC ran a competitive tender to appoint a new investment manager. Cazenove was selected and took on the role in June 2025. They have been performing well and provide regular updates to the committee.
Council was also reassured to hear that there are still external experts on the committee as they provide valuable scrutiny into the ICE’s financial planning.
Role of council
I provided an overview of the governance changes that has led to the current structure and outlined the role of the ICE Council.
The director general then set out the proposal to shift the focus of the council from being ‘the pinnacle of the learning society’ to be ‘the voice of the membership’. This would enable council to develop their wider advisory role across all ICE activities, rather than focusing on the Learning Society Committee (LSC) activities.
To complement this, the governance of the LSC is being brought in line with the other principal committees and will now report directly to the trustee board. The LSC had been consulted on this and agreed that this change wouldn’t impact how they operate.
The council approved the changes, and the updated terms of references (TORs) will be approved by the trustee board in June.
Trustee board elections
All current trustees whose term will continue into 2026/2027 were unanimously re-elected. Council also elected Alison Baptiste as Vice President, and subject to annual re-election by council, she will be the President for 2029/30.
I am delighted to welcome Alison to the trustee board, given her experience in the public sector, and look forward to working with her in the future.
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