Following calls from the farming sector for government support with measuring and reducing emissions, the Net Zero Growth Plan and Nature Markets Framework have been released.
The announcement follows a call for evidence on the role of robust monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions on farms. Low confidence across the industry and a low uptake in the use of tools currently available has been down to an inconsistency in results. It is hoped that a joined-up approach from the government will help the sector reduce emissions across the supply chain – including from livestock, nutrient management and farm equipment.
Mark Spencer, farming minister, said: “As well as producing food for our tables, farmers and land managers can play a key role in helping the UK achieve net zero.
“We’ve been listening to the farming sector, and the measures announced today will not only help them to calculate their carbon footprint, but also open up new financial opportunities, such as combining private commercial opportunities with our new farming schemes support.”
Opportunities are available for farmers to access private sector funding for delivering ecologically supportive programmes and the Nature Markets Framework is projected to support this. The framework will support nature markets to grow in a way that makes them fair, effective and accessible to farmers.
Alongside this, the Green Finance Institute will develop an online toolkit to help farmers identify and access private payments for environmental benefits. The government is also looking at how farmers can be given better advice to access nature markets, by supporting farmers to access advice through the Landscape Recovery development phase and are looking at how we facilitate collaboration through Countryside Stewardship.
This will help farmers to access the more than £1 billion per year that the government is seeking to raise in private finance for nature’s recovery by 2030, and build on the projects which are already in place
The measures are expected to complement the existing government support in place to help the agricultural sector to reach net zero, including support through Environmental Land Management schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms.
