Advisor warns government environment plan is off course

Government advisory body the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has warned that the government is currently set to fail to achieve the goals of its 25-year plan to improve the UK environment.

In its final report in response to the government’s second 25 Year Environment Plan (25 YEP) Progress Report the NCC said its assessment of progress in the plan “highlights starkly that the government was not on course to achieve its objective to improve the environment within a generation.”

The report continued with criticism the government’s approach as lacking rigour: “For the Environment Bill and other environmental policies to succeed, using the correct framework/metrics is essential. The committee is not aware of existing, recent work that brings together a range of available evidence to provide an assessment of the extent and condition of natural capital assets.

The NCC said it had applied its own traffic light rating system to the progress in government bids to enhance seven natural assets including air, rivers, seas and animal and plant life. It found none of the assets were rated green while at least four were assessed as red.

The NCC said its report outlines the need to determine the main natural capital assets, and link these to the ten 25 YEP goals and to goes on to:

• identify and rank asset component on ecosystem services and societal benefits they provide;

• analyse trends for each asset and its components ; and

• provide a transparent and accessible indication of the state of natural assets through a red, amber or green rating whereby red indicates a decline/deterioration; amber shows no change, inconclusive evidence; and green indicates an improvement.

The NCC recommended that the Treasury “should ensure that the baseline assessment is properly funded at the next Spending Review.” It added: “There are huge economic opportunities to be realised from understanding the state of England’s natural assets. The Office for Environmental Protection will be unable to carry out its 25 YEP scrutiny function effectively without a natural capital baseline.