Hm Treasury
Good morning and thank you for your kind introduction and invitation to come and be part of this conference today.
Im truly humbled to be here with you, because there is nothing more precious than protecting the natural world.
And while Id rather not draw attention to my age not least because its April Fools Day in a few short months, when I will turn 49.
The sad fact is in my lifetime, we have witnessed close to a 69% drop in wildlife populations.
Despite what my step children say, Im not an old man and yet since I was born, freshwater populations alone have dropped by an average of close to 83%.
Where I was born into a world of abundant rhinos, leopards, tigers and gorillas, my children find a planet where 1 million species are threatened with extinction.
Where I was born into a world of expansive coral reefs and vast forests, if I have grandchildren, they could find habitat loss on an unimaginable scale.
And where I was born into a world where many did not know better, today we all do.
We know that biodiversity has been declining at a rapid rate because of human activities, such as land use changes, pollution and climate change. And its brought some species to the brink of extinction.
Successive governments, in the UK and across the world, have failed to put in place the measures demanded by our collective responsibility for this loss.
So, we need to act now, urgently, to protect ecosystems. And if the moral argument wasnt enough, we all know that degradation can have real impacts on global GDP.
There is an irony here, because for centuries natural capital assets meadows, woodlands, wetlands have been allowed to degrade, as an accepted cost of economic growth.
The conflict between growth and the environment is a false dichotomy; the environment is the foundation for our economy and society.
We need to mobilise the resources and finance to tackle the problems of today, so that tomorrow might be better.
Whether you are from the Brecon Beacons National Park, you are focussed on ESG for a large corporate, are an investment manager or banker, from the WWF, or a university student I know that the people in this room have the passion and expertise required to meet this enormous challenge.
And so today, what I want to speak to you about is money, and how we channel it into tackling this shared challenge.
Ambitions
The truth is that many international targets have not, and are not, being met.
That is a truth completely at odds with our collective aspiration.
Led from the front by the Prime Minister, this government recognises that global ecosystems are vital to our collective health, well-being, and economic prosperity, and that biodiversity loss is a global issue which requires a global solution.
And our vision for the environment is an economic vision.
It is grounded in the cost and benefits of action or inaction.
In 2019, my department, the Treasury, commissioned an independent global review on the economics of biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta.
The central conclusion of the review was that nature, and the biodiversity that underpins it, ultimately sustains economies, livelihoods and well-being.
The estimated stock of UK natural capital has most recently been valued at 1.8 trillion, though this is likely an underestimate. And with the global stock of natural capital per person having declined by nearly 40% between 1992 and 2014, we must invest in and maintain it.
Alternatively, failing to act risks long-term prosperity, with around 54% of global GDP being moderately or highly dependent on nature.
Biodiversity
So, by 2030, we want to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss. Its a target that can and must be met.
How?
It starts at home. We have taken this world-leading action here in the UK because we are resolved to being the first generation to leave the environment in a better condition than we inherited it.
In January, the Prime Minister set out his vision in our Environmental Improvement Plan.
It provides a blueprint not just to halt the decline of nature in our country, but to reverse it.
Our action is led by our world-leading, legally binding target in England to halt species decline by 2030; then to reverse the decline by 2042.
We have also set legally binding targets to reduce the risk of species extinction by 2042; and restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, also by 2042.
We are investing more than 750 million in tree-planting and peatland restoration through our Nature for Climate Fund
launching the Species Survival Fund
creating, restoring, and extending around 70 areas for wildlife
protecting 30% of our land and sea for nature
supporting a transformation in the management of 70% of our countryside by incentivising farmers to adopt nature friendly farming practices
reducing the key drivers of species decline, from pollution to climate change
and taking targeted action to prevent the loss of our rarest and fastest declining species.
That is a lot of action that will increase the prosperity of our country and work in conjunction with our international efforts.
Such as that taken in December, when 196 countries agreed a landmark new global deal for nature at COP15 the Global Biodiversity Framework.
My colleague, the Treasury Lords Minister Baroness Penn, was there, signifying the ongoing fundamental importance of nature and biodiversity to the Treasury. And she tells me of the strong representation from businesses and financial institutions she met with in Montreal.
The framework recognises that the shift to a nature positive future cannot be accomplished without greater investment. That is why, in that framework, we both governments and the private sector have committed to mobilising at least $200 billion in investment each year.
Of course, while government cannot and should not try to fix everything by themselves, they will have a huge role to play. We simply cant turn the tide on this issue without the sums that many governments have at their disposal.
Under our COP26 Presidency, we got 145 countries to sign the Glasgow Leaders Declaration and agree to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030.
A year later, at COP27, we made more than 150 million available to protect rainforests and natural habitats, including the Congo Basin and Amazon.
We have launched a 500 million Blue Planet Fund, to support developing countries to protect the marine environment and develop sustainable marine economies.
We committed to triple climate adaptation from 500 million in 2019 to 1.5 billion by 2025.
Very importantly, we also reaffirmed our 11.6 billion commitment on international climate finance, spending at least 3 billion on solutions that protect and restore nature.
And these investments are seeing tangible results.
Between 2011 and 2021, we provided 250 million through our Forest Governance Markets and Climate Programme, which helped countries tackle illegal logging, illegal deforestation, and weak governance. The success of this programme means that today 100% of Indonesias timber exports are sourced from independently audited factories and forests. In 2005, just 20% of Indonesias timber was legal.
Our International Development Strategy also committed to ensuring our Official Development Assistance becomes nature positive. This means aligning it with the international goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
However, public funds alone will not be sufficient to close the biodiversity gap of $700bn.
While over half of the worlds GDP reliant on nature, private capital represents just 17% of total investments in nature.
We must therefore rewire the global financial system to align with our ambitions.
Private investment in nature recovery
As I mentioned a few moments ago, governments have a key role. In the UK, currently, the government is the largest investor in nature recovery in the UK.
But our entire economy - indeed the entire global economy is dependent on nature. There simply would be no economy without nature.
So, it makes complete sense that private investment would be warranted and welcomed.
That is why weve announced a target to raise at least 500 million in private finance to support natures recovery every year by 2027 in England, rising to more than 1 billion a year by 2030.
Our Environmental Improvement Plan and Green Finance Strategy set out how we will unlock private sector investment in our domestic natural environment.
Nobody here today needs telling that this will not happen without supportive policies.
Too often we hear that the standards and rules for investing in the full range of carbon and nature recovery projects that need investment are underdeveloped or unclear.
We cannot expect farmers and conservation experts to commit to projects, or investors to mobilise resources at significant scale, without a robust, stable and reliable market framework.
Nor can we expect the public and environmental experts to trust these markets where there are concerns about lack