Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase the use of nature-based solutions to help tackle climate change.

The Government is supporting farmers to implement nature-based farming practices through a range of measures. These include habitat restoration and creation; activities to reduce the impact of invasive non-native species on sites or to address pressures on sensitive areas; improvements in water storage and management; and changes to limit emissions while maintaining agricultural profitability and increasing productivity.

These measures will be delivered through our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. We now have more than half of farmers in an ELM scheme, putting us on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector. In the October 2024 budget, we committed £5 billion for farming over two years, including £1.8 billion for our ELM schemes - the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.

Trees and peat are at the forefront of our plans to reduce emissions. We are working towards our Environment Act targets to reach 16.5% tree canopy cover in England by 2050. We have pledged up to £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration over the current and next financial year.

We also recognise the potential to scale up private investment for carbon and nature projects. Learning from the success of the established UK Woodland Carbon Code and UK Peatland Code, the government is funding the British Standards Institution to build a more comprehensive framework of UK Nature Investment Standards. This includes a UK Natural Carbon Standard, which will be available to support the development of high integrity investment schemes for nature recovery and sustainable farming projects around the UK. As announced in November 2024 at COP29 in Baku, the government is committed to delivering confidence in the integrity of these growing markets and will consult on further potential measures later this year.