Next week Environmental Audit Committee members will question ministers on whether Government plans to mobilise private finance for natural capital will deliver results for nature recovery and the UK’s economic interests.
Meeting details
On Monday 20 May, the Committee will hear evidence from Government ministers Lord Benyon and Baroness Vere. The ministers will be accompanied by senior officials from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Treasury.
The Committee’s inquiry is considering how private investment can fund the recovery and enhancement of natural capital assets like biodiversity, soil, trees or water, contributing to the UK’s environmental and economic goals.
Nature, and the services it provides, underpins the economy. In 2022, the World Economic Forum reported that more than half global GDP – $44 trillion – is at immediate risk due to nature loss.
In 2021, the Government committed to growing private investment in nature to more than £1 billion by 2030, while in 2023, the Nature Markets Framework set out core principles for nature markets, through which natural capital assets can be bought and sold. Members are likely to ask witnesses whether the Government is on track to achieve its goals for private investment goals, and whether these targets were ambitious enough in the first place.
They may also ask whether natural capital assets are likely to be ‘traded’ as a commodity in future, and whether the UK’s domestic targets here are aligned with international goals set in recent COP agreements on climate change and on biodiversity.