Dasgupta Review

The HMT Biodiversity Working Group (BWG) was set up as a response to the Dasgupta Review. It is a multi-disciplinary group (economics, ecology, conservation science) from academia, government departments and private sector, charged with the question of how to ensure that biodiversity is specifically reflected in public investment and regulatory appraisal guidelines in the Green Book. The approach taken accepts that biodiversity is extremely difficult to put a monetary value on and hence typical estimates of Willingness to Pay are likely to be inappropriate. Rather, the BWG has taken a cost-based approach that mirrors the approach already taken to carbon in the UK. That is, biodiversity should be priced according to the costs associated with replacing lost biodiversity with something exactly equivalent to ensure that international commitments (Convention on Biological Diversity and Kunming-Montreal agreement), domestic legislation (Environment Act of 2021) or simply the maxims of strong sustainability, are adequately met. This cost will be prohibitively high for irreplaceable, non-substitutable, habitats making the restructuring of the project more desirable than losing biodiversity. In any event a price for biodiversity loss that is compatible with meeting policy targets for biodiversity will be brought to bear on regulatory and investment appraisal where a zero price was present before. The objective of the BWG is to update the Green Book guidance to bring to bear the social value of biodiversity objectives on the process of public appraisal.

Members include Ben Groom and Ian Bateman from University of Exeter, EJ Milner-Gulland and Sophus zu Ermgassen from Oxford University, Colin Smith and Max Heaver from Defra, Pat Snowdon from Scottish Forestry, Rosie Hails (Chief Scientist at the National Trust), Joseph Lowe from HM Treasury, Robin Smale from McKinsey-Vivid Economics.