Green Finance Institute publishes roadmap for farming transition

An expert farming, finance and agrifood group commissioned by Defra and led by the Green Finance Institute has published four recommendations to Government. The aim is to facilitate farming’s transition to low emission and nature-positive agriculture.

Financing a Farming Transition was unveiled this week. The report identifies major barriers to green agriculture in the UK, and highlights essential forward steps in this journey.

The four messages to Government are: 

*Relevant data access and availability must be improved – The creation of a common platform and language would benefit growers, the private sector, natural capital investors, banks and other businesses linked to farming 

*Priorities for environmental outcome metrics should be set – A clear vision from Government is needed to clarify when and where to make investments in areas like soil health, water quality and biodiversity, with best practice measurement guidance also published 

*Clarity on high integrity environmental markets is needed – Including formal guidance on insetting, stacking or blending ecosystem services, overarching standards, the inclusion of various forms of tenure within agreements, and tax treatment of relevant services 

*An aggregation support model should be created – This would encourage landscape-scale environmental improvements and improve capacity for farmers to attract private finance 

The publication also shows that several actors in the finance and agrifood sectors are ready to invest, and in a number of ways. These include: 

*Banks are exploring the potential to offer loans at discounted rates to farmers that meet certain environmental outcomes, loans for transition work, natural capital projects, and measurement and monitoring tools 

*Food manufacturers, supermarkets and more want to support their supply chain’s transition, with many exploring premium payment through certification, insetting payments, or even developing their own greenhouse gas calculators

*Ecosystem service providers, customers and investors are looking for ways to pay farmers for carbon improvements – soil, hedgerows, peatlands, and woodland – alongside habitat restoration and creation, nutrient reduction and flood risk mitigation 

‘Channelling private capital at scale into the farming transition to support farmers who play a vital role in safeguarding our natural environment, is critical to the sustainability, security and growth of our entire economic system. The enablers set out in this report create an opportunity to deliver the conditions needed to rapidly secure this investment for the first time,’ said Rhian-Mar Thomas, CEO of the Green Finance Institute. 

‘Farming and nature can and must go hand in hand – this is essential to support resilient food production. Through our new environmental land management schemes, we pay farmers to take actions that are good for the farm, good for food production and good for the environment,’ added Green Finance Minister Lord Benyan.

‘We are backing British farmers and rural communities by maintaining the £2.4 billion annual farming budget as we transition to these schemes and will continue to work with farmers and partners across the private sector to support investment in nature-friendly and productive farm businesses,’ he continued. 

Earlier this week, Environment Journal reported on climate tech startup Andes securing $30m in funding. Find out how the company uses microorganisms to expand to carbon capture, use and storage infrastructure. Then read up on the recent Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report, which stipulates that improving green finance access must be a priority. 

Image: Ivan Bandura