Green Alliance is the UK’s leading environmental think tank working for ambitious political leadership and action for climate and nature. It is a cross-party organisation, developing insightful analysis, and convening the environment sector, businesses and policy makers around solutions for a fairer and greener UK.
Its recent successes include:
- The Greener UK coalition was convened by Green Alliance post-Brexit to secure the landmark 2021 Environment Act. This act has enhanced the UK’s environmental protections and put measures in place to hold the UK and Northern Ireland governments to account on environmental standards and targets.
- Leading the environmental sector to ensure government commitment to long term funding, in full, for the Warm Homes Plan and Farming Budget in the 2025 Comprehensive Spring Spending Review. The former is helping to cut household energy bills, reduce fuel poverty and lower carbon emissions from buildings, and the latter is supporting farmers to farm more sustainably.
The challenge:
The destruction of our natural world threatens the UK’s food system, which is also the single largest driver of nature loss across the country. Declining soil health is costing the UK over £1 billion a year in economic losses and insects which provide millions of pounds in economic value every year are under threat. The impacts of climate change will only accelerate these challenges without more intervention.
Alongside public finance, significant private investment is needed to stop nature’s decline and restore ecosystems. The government wants to encourage a private market in protecting and restoring nature, but there are not enough buyers yet. The food sector is an important place to start because of its negative impacts and dependence on nature.
Farmers want to restore nature on their land but lack the resources to pay for it. More incentives are needed for businesses, investors and others to invest in a more resilient, nature positive food system.
Our project:
Elgol Fund for Nature is supporting a two-year Green Alliance project, beginning in 2026. The aim is to influence government policy that will increase private investment in nature, with the aim of protecting 30% of UK land and sea and creating a more resilient UK food system.
How this is being done:
- Advocating the introduction of necessary rules and incentives to the relevant government departments.
- Promoting practical policy ideas that will encourage supermarkets, food brands and others in the food supply chain to invest in nature.
- Prioritising fairness for farmers, businesses, consumers and taxpayers.
- Building support from businesses and the public.
Photos courtesy of Green Alliance.
