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What Boris Johnson can teach the EU about restoring nature

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By illuminem briefings

· 2 min read


illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on POLITICO or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Boris Johnson's UK Environment Act has set a precedent in Europe by establishing a nature-pricing scheme to combat biodiversity loss
The law mandates that developers ensure a 10% biodiversity net gain on projects, creating a market where companies purchase “biodiversity units” to offset ecological impacts
The European Commission is considering a similar market-based model to address biodiversity, inspired by the UK’s approach

🔭 The context: Unlike the UK’s compliance-driven biodiversity credit market, most global efforts remain voluntary, limiting their reach
While the UK scheme incentivizes nearby ecosystem restoration, critics argue it commodifies nature and may be hard to enforce without centralized monitoring
EU leaders, however, see potential in a market-driven approach to mitigate biodiversity loss, as demonstrated in the UK

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: By pricing nature, this model could make biodiversity conservation financially viable for private investors and help slow environmental degradation
Concerns remain over “greenwashing” and whether this complex system can truly capture nature’s value or risk standardizing it into credits

⏭️ What's next: The European Commission is expected to provide further details at the upcoming UN biodiversity conference, though EU leaders will need to convince stakeholders to make such markets effective and mandatory
The UK’s ongoing experiment will be a key case study as nations evaluate viable strategies for protecting ecosystems

💬 One quote: “This is a mechanism that will create thousands and thousands of hectares of impact for nature, but it will cost the government effectively nothing,” said Peter Bachmann of Gresham House

📈 One stat: Nearly 3,400 tree species in South America are at risk due to habitat loss, emphasizing the urgency of biodiversity conservation efforts globally

Click for more news covering the latest on biodiversity and ethical governance

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