UK sets up advisory group to identify sustainable economic activity

The UK government has set up a new working group to help define which economic activities in agriculture can labelled as green.

In a statement, the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the newly launched Land, Nature, and Adapted Systems Advisory Group (LNAS Advisory Group) will advise the UK government on economic activities that can be defined as environmentally sustainable.

The LNAS Advisory Group Secretariat is hosted by the Green Finance Institute and funded and backed by Defra.

The group’s work will expand that of the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), currently advising government on the design and implementation of a UK Green Taxonomy.

It has been tasked to help accelerate investment into sustainable agriculture and fisheries, as well as into the UK’s resilience to deliver on its climate and nature goals, the statement clarified.

According to the Green Finance Institute, strengthening the UK’s global investment credentials by setting clear definitions of environmentally sustainable economic activities is critical to securing UK leadership in green finance. 

The organisation quoted statistics showing that 7.2% of the global total of foreign listed companies are listed in London.

Richard Benyon, minister of state for biosecurity, marine and rural affairs, stressed that “to restore landscapes and ensure thriving plants and wildlife, we need to mobilise much needed investment into the natural environment and prioritise clean and resilient growth.

“The government has backed the development of this group to support long-term, sustainable nature recovery as part of our target to stimulate at least £500 million of private investment a year into nature’s recovery by 2027. These efforts will help drive a step-change in private finance and address the urgent issue of nature decline.”

Last month, Rhian-Mari Thomas, chief executive of the Green Finance Institute, argued that the financial space needs a “radical collaboration” with policymakers, showing robust language on the phaseout of oil and gas to match rhetoric towards coal.