Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 34
34
Accepted
Publish all outstanding nature market documents, provide timelines, and align policies with international standards.
Recommendation
To achieve success in nature markets, the Government must produce the full suite of documents that will be fundamental to its success, including the Land Use Framework, the Government responses to the consultations on a UK Green Taxonomy and on raising integrity in voluntary carbon and nature markets, rules on the stacking and bundling of natural capital assets, and fulfilment of the remaining commitments made in the Nature Markets Framework 2023. Should it not have published these documents by the time of its response to this report, the Government should set out a timeline for the publication of each. Nature restoration schemes and policies must be designed to deliver long term assurance to investors. As far as possible, domestic policies should align with recognised international standards, for example using the approach of the International Sustainability Standards Board. (Recommendation, Paragraph 169)
Government Response Summary
The government commits to publishing the Land Use Framework and its response to the VCNM consultation later this year, and a decision on the UK Green Taxonomy soon. It notes existing guidance and ongoing consultation for stacking and bundling rules, and supports aligning with international standards like ISSB.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
At Mansion House in 2024, the Chancellor set out government’s ambition for the UK to be the world leader in sustainable finance. This includes delivering a regulatory framework to support sustainable growth and enable the private sector to realise the opportunities of the transition. The Government has been carefully considering stakeholders’ responses to the taxonomy consultation, which closed on 6 February, and its role contributing towards this ambition within the wider UK sustainability reporting disclosures regime. A decision will be announced soon. The Land Use Framework will be published later this year. The Government will publish its response to the consultation on raising integrity in voluntary carbon and nature markets, which will close on 10th July, later this year. Some market-specific rules on stacking and bundling are already published in guidance on gov.uk, for example in relation to Biodiversity Net Gain and Nutrient Neutrality. Additionally, supply-side stacking principles are included in the Nature Investment Standards being produced by the British Standards institute. And Government is consulting on the idea of a stacking trial through the VCNM. Government will consider what else is needed. The government is a supporter of the work of the ISSB. The UK Government’s consultation on the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) explores the application of the ISSB’s standards in the UK context. UK SRS aim to support long-term, sustainable decision-making by the business and investment community by providing high-quality and comparable information about the sustainability-related risks and opportunities that businesses face. Greater use of these standards internationally will also reduce the costs to businesses of reporting on sustainability matters in multiple jurisdictions and maximise the consistency of information for investors, allowing them to deploy their funding to maximum effect and support economic growth.