Next steps for protecting England’s natural capital: policy, regulation, markets, and investment

Areas for discussion include the role of natural capital in public and private decision-making, priorities for environmental markets and investment frameworks, approaches to land use and environmental delivery, and measures to strengthen confidence, participation and long-term investment in environmental outcomes.

It will bring stakeholders and policymakers together to discuss implications of the BSI Nature Investment Standards and the Land Use Framework for England, both published in March 2026, alongside recent developments in England’s nature markets and private investment, the Environmental Audit Committee’s 2026 inquiry into HM Treasury’s role in the economics of climate and nature, and the Government’s July 2025 response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report The role of natural capital in the UK’s green economy.

Delegates will assess priorities for strengthening the evidence base for natural capital and supporting its application across decision-making processes.

The agenda will explore approaches to financing environmental outcomes through public and private investment, including the role of environmental markets, land management schemes, and regulatory mechanisms, as well as what conditions are needed to support market development and attract funding. Attendees will examine how participation by land managers, businesses, and other stakeholders can be facilitated, and where barriers to engagement remain.

Further discussion will examine priorities for strengthening confidence in environmental markets and environmental credit mechanisms, including governance, standards, monitoring, and reporting arrangements. Implications of evolving approaches to financial reporting, risk assessment, and investment decision-making will also be explored, alongside how these developments may influence future demand for investment and environmental outcomes.

Overall areas for discussion include:

• natural capital framework:
• the Dasgupta Review - the Environmental Audit Committee’s The role of natural capital in the UK’s green economy inquiry - Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment and Office for National Statistics evidence on England’s natural capital
• economic value, resilience and security:
• biodiversity and ecosystem services in economic resilience, public health and national security
• National security assessment on global ecosystems - implications for policy, risk management and investment
• policy, targets and land use:
• the Environmental Improvement Plan and Land Use Framework - multifunctional land use - alignment of environmental improvement, food production, infrastructure and wider land use
• nature recovery and delivery:
• Natural England’s Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security corporate strategy - alignment of environmental recovery with economic growth, planning and infrastructure
• local and landscape-scale delivery, partnerships and cross-sector coordination
• natural capital in decision-making:
• Green Book and Defra's supplementary Enabling a Natural Capital Approach guidance - UK SRS and TNFD developments
• integration of nature-related considerations into appraisal, investment and organisational decision-making
• environmental markets and participation:
• Environmental Land Management Schemes, ecosystem services and land manager participation - partnership models and supply aggregation
• interaction between public funding and private markets - additionality, insetting and stacking
• compliance mechanisms and environmental restoration:
• the role of Biodiversity Net Gain, Environmental Delivery Plans, the Nature Restoration Fund, nutrient neutrality and the Marine Recovery Fund in financing - standards, accountability and long-term delivery
• market integrity and investment confidence:
• voluntary and compliance markets - governance, regulation and monitoring, reporting and verification
• BSI Nature Investment Standards, Woodland Carbon Code, Peatland Code and UK Nature Impact Fund - confidence in environmental credits and long-term investment