Just Keep Going!
Almost two years ago I wrote a blogpost with the heading “Lost in the Maze” and sometimes it feels as though we’re still trying to find our way out of the labyrinth of environmental and agricultural policy, confounded from time to time by a Government which dithers over its commitment. However we are making progress and here’s how:
1. Biodiversity Net Gain will come into force in England in January 2024.
While it’s disappointing that the proposed start date has been delayed by two months it is probably worth it if that gives local planning authorities a little bit longer to get ready. It is good news that we will get guidance, the detailed Regulations and the statutory Metric in November – these should help us to fill in some of the gaps in understanding how BNG will work in practice and develop into a real market.
2. Nutrient neutrality markets are functioning
The Government’s rather hasty attempt to unpick the challenge that nutrient neutrality presents to developers by amending the Levelling Up Bill was rejected by the House of Lords in September, much to the relief of the many landowners, practitioners, ecologists and developers who had been working hard for several years to bring practical solutions forward. For now, it’s very much “as you were” but this sudden change of tack by the Government has knocked confidence among the investors who are needed to pump funds into nature based solutions like constructed wetlands. With the right policy and regulatory support, the private sector can develop projects which will deliver multiple benefits for clean water, improved biodiversity and carbon storage – a fact which seems to have been overlooked completely by Natural England in its recent blog about the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme.
3. Blended finance might just work
At EKN’s recent Nature Finance conference I detected a hint of renewed enthusiasm for blended finance projects such as those being trialled under the NEIRF scheme and Landscape Recovery. It is true that we don’t yet have all the answers or the perfect model, but much energy is being devoted to finding workable ways forward. However, I can’t help but think that we need to change the narrative on what “investment” in nature really means – it should be less about the financial rate of return and more about restoring and safeguarding our environment so that it can continue to give us what we need in the future. Will big business get on board with that? Perhaps initiatives like the Recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures will help.
It has sometimes felt like a rather bruising couple of months in the natural capital world, as policies swing and sway like branches in an autumn storm, but storms pass. In the words of a wise woman (Minette Batters, NFU President) the best advice in times like these is “just keep going”.
3rd October 2023