A high-integrity standards framework for UK nature markets

The UK government has set a target to stimulate at least £500 million of private investment into nature recovery in England each year from 2027, rising to more than £1 billion each year from 2030.

Well-designed nature investment standards will play a key role in ensuring nature markets are high-integrity and deliver genuine environmental benefits, as they can provide the assurance and clarity needed for all nature market participants - buyers, sellers, investors and intermediaries – to combat greenwashing and enable investment in diverse habitats and ecosystem services.

The report considers emerging priorities for nature investment standardization to support the development of high-integrity nature markets. Such priority areas will help drive the application of consistent principles for the delivery of nature-based projects and quantification of ecosystem services. It is a key step in our Nature Investment Standards programme and is based on an extensive four-month discovery period, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders.