Speeches by Creagh.

“I have been chasing that.”

“We are going to have Natural England publish a policy evaluation report next year, which will look at the process to understand the extent to which the policy is being implemented effectively. It will look at the impact, to understand whether it is achieving its stated outcomes on nature, planning and people, to your p…”

“Just on the register, there is a publicly accessible register for offsite units, so it is about ensuring that people are aware of how to access that.”

“The vast majority of BNG has happened onsite. There have been only two planning applications where it has happened offsite, and I have asked about them. One of them is in Wakefield, and it is the building of a warehouse. What we may be uncovering is that local people do not know where the BNG has happened in their loca…”

“I think so. We have a huge housing crisis, and we know that we have to crack on with building homes. We know that we take far too long to build homes in this country, and some of the proposals in there are about ensuring that rules around nutrient neutrality and biodiversity net gain are seen as enablers, rather than b…”

“I have been contacted by another former member of this Select Committee, Caroline Lucas, on that very issue, and it was on my to-do list. I am afraid that the recess has come upon us rather too quickly. I am aware of the issue. As an extra thing to think about, I will be writing to the Skills Minister about the followi…”

“Yes, we have lost plants, haven’t we? It is now human biology, not really plant biology. I totally take that on board.”

“Absolutely. Buying the statutory credits is the option of last resort for developers, and the Secretary of State may use that income for the purpose of habitat enhancement, for the purchase of land with a view to carrying out habitat enhancement, or for the administration of the credit sales services. That income is he…”

“In the planning context?”

“I mentioned some of the things we are doing to address the integrity of nature markets, to set standards for nature markets, and to ensure a good supply of projects from farmers and landowners to generate ecosystem services credits to those markets. The last bit of that equation is the demand side. There are limited in…”

“We have talked about setting out the principles, so guiding those who want to be early adopters, and there are two or three businesses—the BBC I think has adopted them—”

“Oh, that is TNFD, which is a separate thing. We have supported the BSI around the standard setting. We also launched the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits framework with former French Finance Minister Sylvie Goulard in Cali, Colombia. It was co-chaired by Britain and France, so we had Dame Amelia Faw…”

“What we have to do, to protect and restore nature, whether nationally or internationally, is to make sure that every pound works really hard. We know that every pound invested in climate has a 20% benefit for nature, and 80% of all the pounds invested in nature give you something for the climate. We could argue against…”

“We are big supporters of TNFD, and I met its co-chair, David Craig, just last week. We are going to consult on how the UK intends to adopt the International Sustainability Standards Board’s standards. ISSB is basically taking all the voluntary standards in this space that lots of companies have developed in two differe…”

“I agree, because what you need is an international framework within which this happens. Otherwise, we are doing the right thing and then everyone else can be—”

“Oh dear. Have I fallen into it? It is quite possible that I did.”

“I will start by finishing off with the TNFD and the green taxonomy, because I was in one headspace and now we are in a different one. First, the TNFD is about transparency, consistency and reducing burdens for cross-border companies. We have also said that ESG ratings providers will be regulated once legislation is agr…”

“Let me move on to the targets under the Environment Act.”

“I have found some answers to the previous question, but I am a bit worried that we are going all over the place. We have 60 companies that are voluntarily choosing now to adopt TNFD, which is important. Greensphere Capital is aiming to invest up to £100 million in commercialising and scaling up research in biodiversity…”

“Exactly.”