Net Optimism: Markets for protecting nature
Thank you to our wonderful panelists and all those who joined us this week for our second 'Net Optimism' event in collaboration with the Morris Group (as part of the National Sustainable Living Festival). At the ‘Markets for Protecting Nature’ event, Hayley Morris spoke with Nigel Sharp of Tiverton Agriculture Impact Fund, Carolyn Suggate of Organic & Regenerative Investment Co-operative, and Anjali Nelson of GreenCollar to discuss all things natural capital and using carbon markets to drive investment in natural systems.
The group spoke through the challenges and opportunities with nature-based carbon credits and how to ensure high-integrity projects are being supported and prioritised, before reflecting on where we go from here.
Some key takeaways included Anjali sharing “This is a once in a lifetime, if not ever, opportunity to incentivise positive land use change at scale in this country. So I think the national debate about carbon credits needs to be reframed around integrity and improved measurement, doing it better, being more transparent.” Anjali also said “there is a definite need for carbon developers internationally to demonstrate their understanding that land managers are a critical element of projects and meaningful partnership is a vital part of the story. I don't think we can change markets if we just imitate the same exploitative practices we've done in the past, these markets should be an opportunity for equitable wealth distribution and benefits.”
Carolyn shared “When considering offset purchases make sure you know where they're coming from and who they're rewarding. So it’s taking it back to the producer or to the Land Steward and ensuring that they are getting the majority of the benefit, and that you're actually seeing that there is improvement happening on a regular basis… I'm definitely concerned about the dodgy credits, but I'm also really concerned about the really long-term contracts, because none of us can guarantee what's going to happen in 25 years”.
Nigel shared “I think if people started looking for investment opportunities, there's lots out there. There's lots better ways emerging and a lot more responsibility around measurement too. However, there's plenty of greenwashing, a lot of people are saying ‘we're going to do amazing things’. So I think the warning is to make sure people are going to demonstrate how they're delivering and measuring the change as they go, but I think it's a really exciting time for people who are interested to invest for the betterment of climate and people.”
Ultimately, the panelists concluded that they didn’t think you could have a truly valued nature – given “it's limitless and it's our existence. But if we turn that concept on its head – you could say our inability to put any kind of value on nature and think of it as a free good – is partly why we're in this mess.”
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