Photo: Wendell Medeiros
As the UK shapes its approach to voluntary carbon and nature markets, the government has already taken an important step by launching a thoughtful and constructive consultation. This process marks a vital opportunity to cement the UK’s leadership on high-integrity, science-aligned climate action, at a time when clarity, consistency, and collaboration are more important than ever.
Our partner, the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance (NCSA), a coalition of businesses, NGOs, and technical experts convened by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), has now submitted its response. The submission builds on the UK’s strong starting position and sets out a pragmatic, forward-looking path to ensure that voluntary carbon markets contribute meaningfully to both net-zero goals and nature-positive outcomes.
Read more
Related articles for further reading
The NCSA urges the UK Government to:
- Embed the use of high-integrity nature-based credits alongside engineered removals and value chain decarbonisation
- Recognise the role of interim action, including transparent responses to underperformance
- Support landscape-level interventions, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors
- Prioritise the concept of durability over a rigid interpretation of permanence, especially for nature-based removals
These recommendations reflect what many climate-leading companies already recognise: nature is not a secondary consideration in the climate transition—it is a primary solution. To unlock its full potential, policy must enable clarity in claims, reasonable flexibility in credit use, and confidence in what “high integrity” means in practice.
A pivotal opportunity to support nature’s role in climate action
Despite growing scientific consensus on the critical role of natural ecosystems, like forests, peatlands, and mangroves, policy support has historically lagged. Through this consultation, the UK is providing a critical opportunity to continue reversing that trend and accelerate the flow of finance to nature-based solutions.
By enabling the credible use of carbon credits to address residual emissions, transparently manage underperformance, and invest in beyond-value-chain mitigation today, not decades from now, the UK can unlock immediate climate and development benefits.
Driving alignment in a fragmented landscape
The UK is already helping to shape global best practices and promote policy coherence across governments, and we commend them for that. The NCSA response offers ways to deepen that alignment. It encourages the government to:
- Harmonise with leading international frameworks like the VCMI’s Claims Code of Practice and ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles
- Clarify how claims are defined and how credits are treated legally
- Strengthen support for project developers, especially in the Global South
With these steps, the UK can help build a coherent, effective market, one that advances climate ambition and supports global equity, rather than stalling in policy uncertainty.
A moment to lead decisively
The UK Government’s consultation is grounded in ambition and integrity. Now is the time to build on that strong foundation by affirming the role of nature as a credible, practical, and necessary component of corporate climate strategies.
Government, business, and civil society all have a role to play. Together, we can shape a market that works for people, planet, and prosperity.
Interested in supporting this shift?
Read the full consultation and share your feedback before 10 July.
-ENDS-