Aviva, WWF Call for UK Nature-positive Pathways
Report calls for government to provide more detail on the ways in which the private sector can contribute to the country’s move to a sustainable economy.
UK insurance group Aviva and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have launched a joint report setting out nature-positive pathways, calling on the UK government and private sector to work together to support the net zero transition.
Highlighting significant risks posed by the degradation of nature to the economy and financial system, the document proposes a new policy tool, based on the UK Climate Change Committee’s Net Zero Pathways, giving the private sector clarity and guidance on how it can contribute to national and global environmental targets.
Aviva and the WWF suggest nature-positive pathways be integrated with existing net zero sectoral pathways, developing a common strategy to tackle both climate and nature crises.
“Businesses have told us that the transition to a nature-positive, net zero economy is one of the biggest business opportunities since the industrial revolution,” said Karen Ellis, Chief Economist at WWF UK. “But businesses need clarity and stability before investing in the solutions we need to restore nature and transition away from practices that harm it. The government must set out clear pathways for key sectors of the economy, like those that have been developed to help tackle the climate crisis.”
The report also suggests nature-positive pathways should follow the government’s publication of the updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), expected next month.
“This would give both policymakers and the private sector plans that set out how each economic sector is expected to contribute to the delivery of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) the UK government signed up to at COP15,” the statement read.
Around 177 financial institutions representing £18.6 trillion in assets have signed the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, which calls on global leaders to take effective action to reverse nature loss this decade and develop sectoral pathways to support that vision. The report was developed to respond to demand from “enthusiastic [business] all[ies]” wanting to protect and restore nature, Aviva and the WWF said.
“Nature-positive pathways can help define what each individual sector’s contribution to nature-related targets should be, and most importantly – what are some of the actions that businesses within those sectors can take to achieve that,” said Helen Avery, Director of Nature Programmes and GFI Hive at the Green Finance Institute, during an event that launched the report. “In this way, they very much complement England’s Environment Improvement Plan, and any other countries’ national targets or strategies related to nature.”
Concerted effort
The World Economic Forum estimates that shifting to nature-positive models could create annual business opportunities in related technologies and business models worth US$10 trillion globally and create 395 million jobs by 2030.
In the report, the WWF and Aviva explain how nature-positive pathways would enable the UK government to tap into those benefits and attract private finance flows.
This can be done through clarifying the direction of policy and regulation, aligning with the goals and targets of the GBF, aligning nature and climate transition pathways and planning, and incentivising long-term investment while realising commercial opportunities.
The catalytic impact of sector-specific nature-positive pathways would also provide investors with greater confidence to invest, reducing pressure on constrained public finances, the report suggests.
“Any investment or underwriting decision, any choice of our suppliers, will fundamentally depend on our expectations of the state of the world,” said Thomas Viegas, Nature Strategy Lead, Aviva. “And that state, obviously, is dependent on pathways and policy choices that governments chose.”
Describing the transition to an economy aligned with the Paris Agreement and the GBF as “arguably the biggest structural change in our lifetimes, [or] definitely in the 21st century”, Viegas said this naturally brought uncertainty, risk and opportunities.
“For an organisation such as ourselves to adequately develop strategies that are holistic, robust and effective enough to plan for future investments, underwriting and operations, having that clarity and coherence over the benefits that the whole-economy transition and nature-positive sectoral pathways can bring is vital,” he added. “Nature-positive sectoral pathways, at their heart, allow for that translation of ambition to expected action.”
The report includes an illustrative pathway for the UK agriculture sector, showcasing how such pathways could be developed. Covering the impacts of agriculture on nature, it identifies key levers to address them and progressively move the sector towards a nature-positive, net zero future.
This example can also be used as a starting point for similar undertakings in other sectors, the report suggests.
“Nature-positive pathways are filling a critical gap that we have in the architecture in place on nature today,” said Avery. “I like to think of them as a bridge between the public and the private sector that’s going to help unlock greater corporate action on nature.”
Walking the talk
Following a period of backtracking on climate commitments and green policies under the previous Conservative administration, the development of nature-positive pathways through a publicly endorsed process would also signal the new government’s commitment to delivering a nature-positive transition and creating a coherent policy framework across sectors, Aviva and the WWF argue.
This, in turn, would provide the private sector with confidence to invest in R&D to drive innovation, and in emerging commercial opportunities that will be unlocked through the transition.
“The ambition is very much there, [and so is] the recognition of the role that business has to play in transitioning to a resilient, nature-positive, net zero future,” said Amanda Skeldon, Climate and Nature Director at commercial real estate and property investment consulting firm JLL. “The ambition is there, the will is there, the interest is there – but at the moment, there is that lack of clarity.”
A recent survey ran by JLL showed that while roughly 85% of its investor clients had plans to create nature strategies, less than 50% of them had already acted on them – with them main reason being the need for further clarity and direction.
“That’s exactly what this [guidance] can help bring: a clarity of direction and metrics, and an understanding of what people should be working towards – as well as how that fits into the bigger picture, so that the UK [can ensure] every sector is not just focusing on one area to meet [its] domestic target.”
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