Environment Agency chief hits out at greenwashing by businesses

·   Emma Howard Boyd, addressing the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment Annual Forum, will warn businesses are embedding liability and storing up the risk for their investors by giving the false impression they are addressing the climate crisis.

·   Howard Boyd addresses concerns over greenwashing after the climate change committee said in its annual progress report last week that the government failed to enact the policies needed to reach the UK's net-zero targets.

·   Howard Boyd, who leaves the Environment Agency in September, is interim chair of the Green Finance Institute.

·   She will say that nearly £650bn of public and private infrastructure investment planned by 2030 is at considerable risk unless increasingly severe climate impacts are considered in planning and delivery.

·   Howard Boyd is set to praise the work of activist NGOs, including ShareAction, Make My Money Matter and ClientEarth, for their work calling out greenwashing.

·   Earlier this year, the Bank of England's first climate stress test suggested that UK banks and insurers would end up taking on nearly £340bn-worth of climate-related losses by 2050 unless action was taken to curb rising temperatures and sea levels.

·   Howard Boyd says there is underinvestment in climate adaptation.

·   Howard Boyd wants to see more government involvement to drive investment in climate adaptation, starting with a Treasury-commissioned review to assess the economics of climate resilience.