F E AT U R E By Peter Neal and Ben Brown
ENVIRONMENTAL NET GAIN: capturing the opportunity for the landscape profession Net Gain will help the landscape profession tackle climate change
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f they can see their way through Brexit, climate change historians looking back on Theresa May’s government will find two vitally important announcements. Both “net” policies (and no, nothing to do with the Common Fisheries Policy). The first is net zero: the law (passed June 2019) which signs the UK up to a new target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It’s a vital step towards halting 34
climate change, currently one of the most ambitious targets in the world. The second is net gain: specifically, the commitment by the government to legislate for biodiversity net gain (BNG), as well as seeking to expand this into a broader environmental net gain (ENG). Its impact on addressing climate change is subtler, but arguably more profound. Net gain will make some (admittedly small) contribution to
reducing overall carbon emissions by encouraging afforestation, for example, but crucially it will also help us to adapt to the climate changes which we’re already too late to stop: higher temperatures in cities, more frequent flood events, etc. In fact, taken seriously, net gain could profoundly change how cities are designed and how they impact on the environment. It could also represent a major opportunity for landscape professionals.
