More than 40 housebuilders, investment firms and environmental groups have signed an open letter calling on the government to champion biodiversity net gain (BNG).
The open letter, sent following the anniversary of the implementation of BNG on 12 February 2024, outlines the essential role that BNG plays in ensuring “nature recovery, growth, and sustainable investment can thrive together”.
The signatories of the letter, which include Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Related Argent and UK Green Building Council, highlight how BNG helps to align the government’s growth and green agendas, with “environmental campaigners championing BNG’s role in halting biodiversity loss and housebuilders recognising the benefits it can bring in securing local support for development”.
The letter outlines that BNG should serve as a model for green investment in the future and is essential to create the £1bn privately financed fund for nature by 2030.
The letter reads as follows:
Dear Secretary of State,
We, the undersigned, write to you as a coalition of innovative businesses and organisations to celebrate the first anniversary of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and its role in supporting nature, promoting growth and driving a sustainable housebuilding revolution in the UK.
Since its implementation on 12 February 2024, this first-of-its-kind policy has positioned England as a global leader in biodiversity restoration, demonstrating how nature recovery, growth, and sustainable investment can thrive together. It has brought together sectors which have historically been at odds with each other – with environmental campaigners championing BNG’s role in halting biodiversity loss and housebuilders recognising the benefits it can bring in securing local support for development.
As a group dedicated to promoting nature restoration through investments in novel technology and habitat restoration, we have seen first hand how innovative policies, like BNG, can help the UK channel inward investment to meet binding nature restoration obligations – at no cost to the taxpayer.
Put simply, BNG has enabled the UK to become an international leader in shaping a greener future while at the same time boosting investment into a range of sectors and industries. UK nature businesses are winning international contracts and attracting venture investment based on this world-leading policy position.
BNG is a true success story. Over the past year, it has unlocked unprecedented investment in local habitats, while also driving green growth. Implementing BNG has prompted businesses and organisations like ours to invest in new, highly skilled jobs across England. From AI to ecology, and from automation to analysis, we – along with many other businesses and partners – have innovated to develop ways to make the implementation of BNG as simple as possible for housebuilders and planning authorities, whilst simultaneously streamlining the planning process and creating new opportunities for nature restoration. In doing so, we have been able to create new opportunities and roles.
This policy proves that government leadership can stimulate investment and sustainability in tandem, and should serve as an outstanding model for green investment in the future. Indeed, BNG is expected to create a £1bn privately financed fund for nature by 2030.
As we mark this milestone, it’s important to reflect on the strides made so far, and look forward to what can be done to continue this policy’s successful implementation, including the application of BNG to major infrastructure projects. As businesses and organisations, we are committed to championing the policy as a driver of environmental recovery, a catalyst for sustainable housebuilding, and to continuing to innovate, ensuring that BNG remains an integral pillar of the green economy.
Sincerely,
Vincent Ganley, Managing Director, Adonis Blue
Dr Martina Girvan, Senior Technical Director – Head of Ecology and Arboriculture, Arcadis: on behalf of the Green Construction Board (GCB) – Biodiversity and Environmental Net Gain Working Group
Ian Boyd, Director, Arc Biodiversity and Climate
Mr Dave Wood, CEO, Avon Needs Trees.
David Thomas, CEO, Barratt Redrow
Simon Scougall, CCO, Bellway
Estelle Bailey, Chief Executive, Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust
Jon Garner, Director & Co-Founder, BioGains
Sue Riddlestone OBE, CEO & co-founder, Bioregional
Andrew Hicks, CEO, BNGx
Ben Greggory, Director of Nature Recovery, Cheshire Wildlife Trust
Georgia Ruth Elliott-Smith, Director, Earth Ethos
Catherine Spitzer, CEO, Environment Bank
Adam Ralph, Director & Co-Founder, Field Works Biodiversity Land Management
Rich Speak, Co-founder and Managing Director, Finance Earth
Professor David Hill CBE, DL, DPhil (Oxon), CEnv, FCIEEM, Founder and President, Foundation for Nature
Morgan Taylor, Director, Greengage
Alistair Emery MRICS, Director, Kingwell
Kim Connor Streich, Founder and CCO, Greenshank Environmental
David Pinder, Chair, Green Construction Board (GCB)
Simon Towers, Co-Chairman, Green Earth Group
Sam Jones, Founding Director, The Green Partnership
Oliver Lewis CBE, CEO, Joe’s Blooms
Evan Bowen-Jones, Chief Executive, Kent Wildlife Trust
Greg Nightingale, Director, and Lorna Roberts, Associate Director, Luscinia Ecology
Richard Flemmings, CEO, Map Impact
Archie Struthers, CEO, Nattergal
Dimple Patel, CEO, NatureMetrics
Tom Tew, Founder & Chief Executive, Naturespace Partnership
Thomas Pickford, Head of Policy, The Nature Conservancy
Tom Nelson, Director, Nature Impact
Rich Stockdale, Founder and CEO, Oxygen Conservation
Stephen Elderkin and Evan Bowen-Jones, Co-Founders, Rebuilding Nature
Jamie Quinn, Sustainability Director, Related Argent
Jon Davies, Director, RSK Wilding
Michael Copleston, Director, RSPB England
Eleni Polychroniadou, CEO, and Dr Gemma Jerome, Head of Green Infrastructure, Sintali
Dick Jeavons-Fellows, CEO, Small Habitat Company
Georgia Dent, CEO, Somerset Wildlife Trust
Glenn Anderson, Director of Landscape Strategy, Swallowtail Consulting
Craig Melson, Associate Director, TechUK
Bevis Watts, CEO, Triodos Bank UK
Simon McWhirter, Deputy Chief Executive & Director of External Affairs, UK Green Building Council
Matthew Brown and Rafi Cohen, Co-CEOs, Verna
Jonathan Wates, Director, Wates Developments Group
Alex Begg, Co-Founder, Wendling Beck Op-Co
Jack Potter, Director, Wild Capital
