The British government has published a response to its consultation on a nature and biodiversity positivity regulation that will help to inform a final biodiversity plan for land use and development that includes details on how credits can incentivise support for nature protection.
The government published the response on Tuesday, summarising current policy positions and reaction to the process from stakeholders following its consultation on biodiversity net gain (BNG) launched in Jan. 2022.
It will use the near-600 responses to help construct a biodiversity net gain plan designed to ensure that development and land management projects leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than before.
The mandatory BNG requirements will come into force in Nov. 2023 as part of agreed amendments to existing local and environmental legislation and will fit in alongside a broader UK push towards green growth, a key topic raised during the recent review of the country’s net zero strategy.
As a result of legislative amendments that passed last year, any new developments across England and Wales will now need to prove a 10% net gain in biodiversity as a condition of planning permission.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
The UK government said it had already provided last year £4.2 million of funding to local governments to provide support to prepare for mandatory BNG. It confirmed that it would be providing up to £16.7 mln to prepare the same authorities between now and November.
The government has now also made the decision to include previously-developed, or brownfield, sites in protective legislation, to regulate to further protect irreplaceable natural habitats, and to prevent duplicating the recording of BNG and carbon offsets.
These decisions published following the consultation on Tuesday were welcomed by interest group the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) that said its members would welcome these policies.
The group warned, however, that the proposed extension of the transition period for small sites until April 2024 could see as many as 100,000 new developments per year escape the scope of biodiversity regulations. This would impede on nature recovery.
“The government has also missed the opportunity to outline how biodiversity net gain could develop into the broader concept of ‘environmental net gain’ that would integrate and deliver the wider social benefits of nature-positive built environments,” a spokesperson for the body added.
The UK said it also intends to commence mandatory BNG with 30 years set as the minimum period for which biodiversity gain sites must be secured.
It added that it will now consider a range of submitted suggestions in the consultation for how to incentivise retention of biodiversity gains once legal agreements expire such as tax incentives, investment bonds and other financial instruments, and the sale of credits.
CREDIT USE
The government plans to continue to enable developments to sell credits from their nature gains, first introduced as part of the 2021 Environment Act.
The system of statutory biodiversity credits will initially allow the UK government to sell biodiversity credits to developers if the required biodiversity net gains cannot be achieved on-site or through the off-site market.
Two thirds of respondents to the consultation stated they supported the government’s current approach to suppliers to the market for biodiversity units.
This stipulates that any landowners or managers can create or enhance habitat for the purpose of selling biodiversity units, provided that they are able to meet the requirements of the policy, including additionality and register eligibility requirements, and demonstrate no significant adverse impacts on priority habitats.
This includes local authorities, but they cannot direct buyers towards their land in preference over other suppliers to the market unless there are clear ecological justifications for doing so.
The majority of respondents were also supportive of a rule that excess credits could be sold for another development and the government suggested that this will be allowed provided additionality can be proven.
“These ‘excess’ gains must be identified clearly as such in the original development’s biodiversity gain plan. We will keep this position under review and monitor whether this imposes an artificial ceiling on the gains achieved,” the government’s consultation response stated.
The government also stipulated that an indicative credit price will be published six months in advance of BNG becoming mandatory and will be set to be “intentionally uncompetitive with the market”.
It is also assessing whether to vary the price by habitat type will review the price at six-monthly intervals in response to market data once the mandatory requirement is in place.
The government plans to minimise the use of statutory biodiversity credits and ultimately phase them out once the biodiversity unit market has matured, it confirmed.
International biodiversity crediting markets are fast gaining interest but remain very nascent, and the UK’s efforts to introduce crediting are among the first in the world.
OTHER CONSULTATION RESPONSES
A total of 590 responses were received to the consultation over the 12 week process, with planning authorities, individuals, and NGOs making up the largest three categories of respondents.
Overall, the government’s policies were broadly supported, but they suggested that more information should be required about future management of biodiversity.
The government said it would take into account for an in-development plan that will provide local authorities with guidelines for what constitutes as BNG.
Respondents also suggested that the plan should make greater reference to existing industry guidance, use regulations to clarify the precise information requirements, with more of the BNG template labelled as mandatory.
Separately, the UK recently outlined a new nature restoration plan and green space boost in a bid to spur biodiversity.
By Roy Manuell – roy@carbon-pulse.com
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