The government has made a series of nature-focused commitments as part of its response to the Dasgupta Review – which was published earlier this year and which called for transformative economic change to rebalance humanity’s relationship with nature (EA 08-Feb-21).
The commitments include an amendment to the long-awaited Environment Bill that will add the requirement for new ‘nationally significant’ infrastructure projects in England – including for transport and energy – to provide net gain in biodiversity and habitats for wildlife.
The push for nature-positive policies, finance and projects will have notable implications for consultancies offering ecology and water and resource management services. Environment Analyst’s latest industry research shows the UK market for these services amounted to a combined total of over £540m in 2019-20, representing around 28% of the overall UK environmental consulting market. The focus on nature-based solutions and biodiversity net gain could lead to substantial growth on that revenue figure over the coming decade.
Biodiversity net gain is defined as "development that leaves biodiversity in a better state than before," meaning the development must go beyond mitigation and aim to create 10% more habitat for wildlife than was there before, as well as contributing to nature conservation and other environmental and climate priorities.
The amendment to the Environment Bill is one of several pledges announced in the government’s response to the Dasgupta Review, geared to delivering a "nature-positive future".
Others include a commitment to ensuring all new UK bilateral aid spending does no harm to nature; up to £3m in additional support to the development of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Framework (TNFD); a plan to work with the Office for National Statistics to improve the way nature is incorporated into national accounts; and the incorporation of biodiversity into the government’s Green Financing Framework.
Kemi Badenoch, Exchequer secretary to the treasury, said: "The government has an ambitious nature agenda and our response to the independent Dasgupta Review sets out the ways in which the government will go further to ensure our economy supports nature and wildlife."
But Signe Norberg, head of public affairs and communications at the Aldersgate Group, gave the response only a muted welcome, saying there should be a cross-departmental governmental plan that incorporates commitments to mainstream nature into economic decision making.
"It is positive to see the government taking on board the findings from the Dasgupta Review. The response confirms that biodiversity net gain will apply to nationally significant infrastructure projects in England, which is an important development," Norberg said.
"However," she continued, "[it] does not amount to the necessary step change called for by Professor Sir Dasgupta. It is important that the whole of government takes on the challenge posed by the review and introduces new measures in the near and long term to support nature’s recovery. An ambitious Environment Bill, with binding interim targets and environmental improvement plans focused on delivering these targets, can play a key role in driving investment to restore the natural environment."
The government’s response builds on other agreements made as part of the G7 Nature Compact, which was sealed in recent weeks at the G7 summit in Cornwall, and which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. For this, the UK committed to a new target for increasing species abundance and a commitment to protect 30% of the UK’s land and ocean by 2030, along with encouraging others to do the same.
The G7 Nature Compact commits world leaders to lead a transition to the sustainable and legal use of natural resources, and to "dramatically increase investment in nature" in a way that enables a "nature-positive economy". It also calls on them to drive the protection, conservation and restoration of ecosystems – including by means of the 30% by 3030 goal – and to hold themselves to account for taking domestic and global action for nature.
The WWF was largely positive about its recommendations, saying it welcomes "the renewed ambition demonstrated by leaders to be net zero and nature positive, and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030". Turning these commitments into "concrete global and national decisions, transformative actions and policies" is now the priority, it added, saying that this is the point of no return.
The urgency of the situation is underscored by other recent reports including a peer-reviewed paper resulting from a workshop held with 50 of the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts. The scientists concluded that unprecedented changes in climate and biodiversity driven by human activities now threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being around the world. The workshop – convened by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – said that biodiversity loss and climate change mutually reinforce each other and must be tackled in tandem.