Operationalising Treasury Green Book Guidance on biodiversity

This is a 12 month project, which is part of the AGILE Initiative. The AGILE Initiative is implementing a series of fast-paced Research Sprints, which will mobilise the best interdisciplinary research teams from across the University of Oxford and beyond to deliver solutions-focused science that provides the information decision makers need, when they need it. Sprints are being undertaken in close collaboration with government at all levels, industry partners, NGOs and local communities. More about the AGILE Initiative can be found on the website here.

Outline of research: The UK government is becoming a global leader in biodiversity conservation, with the Treasury (HMT) recently commissioning the Dasgupta Review of the economic case for biodiversity, and setting bold targets for nature recovery and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) under the Environment Act. HMT’s Biodiversity Working Group is currently updating guidance for the assessment of public sector spending (the Treasury ‘Green Book’) to incorporate and account for biodiversity across all government spending. This will be a key way in which the Dasgupta Review’s recommendations are operationalised by the UK government. However, how best to operationalise these bold visions and commitments to nature recovery remains a major challenge.

Case study area (BBOWT 2022)

If the UK is to meet its own and international biodiversity targets, it needs to be able to properly measure the impact of economic development projects on biodiversity. It also needs to be able to deliver social welfare benefits alongside nature restoration, and balance trade-offs between commitments to economic development and biodiversity improvements.

This Sprint focuses on the Bernwood, Otmoor, and Ray region as a case study site. The project area spans the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border and is approximately 300km2. The area sits entirely within the OxCam Arc for growth and development; development which is putting the region’s habitats and wildlife at risk. However, it also holds strong options for further (large-scale) habitat improvement.

Objectives:

In this Sprint, we focus on three interlinked, unresolved issues which require focused, cutting-edge research:

Firstly, how to robustly measure the biodiversity impacts, positive and negative, of business and governmental investments
Secondly, how to reconcile commitments to invest in biodiversity improvement with the economic and social welfare of people most affected by these investments
Thirdly, how to deliver sustained, socially just, welfare improvements together with biodiversity gains at the landscape level. This will be considered through spatial modelling and an exploration of scenarios for development

This Sprint will address these key issues, identifying just and actionable pathways to BNG in a case study landscape where nationally important economic development is taking place.

Summary of planned activities: