It’s not easy being green
FOUR of the nation’s largest conservation charities have joined forces to encourage responsible private investment in Nature recovery and to combat ‘corporate greenwashing’, it was announced last week.
The Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, the Woodland Trust and the National Trust have jointly published Nature Markets Principles, which they believe will combat a ‘lack of regulation’ for the emerging Nature markets. The markets are based on the sale of environmental ‘credits’, such as carbon credits, biodiversity units, nutrient credits and natural flood-management payments. They are generated by schemes that ‘have the capacity to deliver multiple benefits for society and the environment’ and are a keen source of new income for rural communities and farmers. However, the relative youth of these markets means that there is very little regulation, with several news stories in recent months questioning the validity of schemes such as carbon credits and offsetting. The charities say that ‘poor quality or low-ambition schemes could create a “wild west” that allows industries or businesses to greenwash’ and miss out on ways to maximise benefits for people and Nature.
The voluntary principles have been developed with Finance Earth and Federated Hermes, which manage the Governmentbacked UK Nature Impact Fund. This fund aims to stimulate ‘institutional investment at scale in high-quality Nature-restoration projects’. It has pledged to adopt the Nature Markets Principles and apply them across its activities in UK Nature markets.
They will combat a “lack of regulation” in the emerging Nature markets
‘Nature-based credit schemes present a
