The UK’s department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) and the British Standards Institution (BSI) have partnered to launch the Nature Investment Standards Programme.
The programme will become a framework to help build confidence in nature markets, scale up investments in nature and guard against greenwashing. The framework aims to set clear principles and robust requirements, which will include the identification, prioritisation and development of the standards to address key market gaps, such as data.
It will also provide a benchmark for industry codes to be recognised as sufficiently robust and credible.
An initial discovery phase, which will include extensive stakeholder engagement, will take place until the end of May, with the overall programme due to run for three years.
Green Finance Strategy
The Nature Investment Standards Programme is one of a number of measures by the UK government that will form part of its forthcoming Green Finance Strategy, updated from the 2019 version, and its Nature Markets Framework.
These strategies are aimed at boosting market confidence and increasing private sector investment into nature recovery and nature-friendly farming.
Lord Benyon, environment and green finance minister, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with the BSI to shape UK standards to support investment in long-term, sustainable nature recovery as part of our forthcoming Green Finance Strategy and Nature Markets Framework.
“These standards will provide clarity and structure in nature markets and drive a step-change in the role of private finance in addressing nature’s decline, building on domestic and international practices, initiatives and innovation.”