Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to support stable governance for private investment in nature markets.

The Government is committed to scaling stable, high integrity markets to mobilise investment in nature recovery and sustainable farming. As detailed in the Summary of Responses to the consultation on Voluntary Carbon and Nature Market integrity, simple and proportionate guardrails, supported by and co-created with business, are critical in ensuring these markets develop with integrity.

We are actively exploring opportunities to streamline and strengthen nature market governance, building on the work of the UK Nature Investment Standards, sponsored by Defra and led by the British Standards Institution. The standards provide clear, consistent, consensus-based criteria for high integrity nature markets, with two new market standards for the supply of biodiversity and nutrient reduction benefits launched in March. The Government also signalled that suppliers should self-assess against the standards for a minimum period of two years while the market matures, during which time we will take steps to move towards accredited, independent certification.

These are critical steps in transitioning to a high-integrity governance framework for UK nature markets, alongside which we are also considering options for proportionate market oversight and coordination. This includes exploration of a potential business-led market oversight pilot, following the recommendations from Dan Corry's independent review of environmental regulation last year.

Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments to ensure, as far as possible, a consistent framework for nature markets for use across the UK, including in the South East of England.